


Who'll have mercy on your soul?

by LuiGarMir



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Character Development, Chris Hartley/Josh Washington Appreciation, Climbing Class, Dead Beth and Hannah Washington, Fix-It, Josh Washington Appreciation, Josh Washington Lives, Josh Washington is Rescued, M/M, Mike Adopts Wolfie, Minor Emily Davis/Matt Taylor, Minor Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, Minor Sam Giddings/Beth Washington, Protective Chris, Sam Giddings is the best bro, Self-Indulgent, They End As Good Friends, Until Dawn (Video Game) Is Its Own Warning, Until Dawn (Video Game) Spoilers, Wendigo Hannah Washington
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuiGarMir/pseuds/LuiGarMir
Summary: One year ago, Josh and his twin sisters, Hannah and Beth, invited their friends to the Washington Lodge on Blackwood Mountain for their annual winter getaway.One year ago, Hannah and Beth both fell to their apparent deaths, never to be seen again.Now, on the one year anniversary of the disappearances of Hannah and Beth Washington, the remaining seven friends accept Josh's invitation back to the mountain.Now, as the group separates to partake in their own festivities, their seemingly idyllic getaway begins to quickly turn sinister in more ways than one.
Relationships: Chris Hartley/Josh Washington
Comments: 35
Kudos: 97





	1. Ten Hours Until Dawn - Memento Mori

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I know this fandom is almost dead by now - but I'll never give this ship up.  
> What can I say? I'm a sucker for Climbing Class. 
> 
> So... Yeah. This is basically Until Dawn as you know it, but the characters are actual friends.  
> I like to believe they are also nicer and funnier - but who knows? 
> 
> Oh, Josh survives and Mike adopts Wolfie.  
> Sue me! 
> 
> I'll be posting every other week - or sooner if possible.  
> (This is not beta tested, so I apologize in advance for any and every mistake.)

> “Today is the one-year anniversary of the dreadful tragedy that took place on Mount Washington. Here with us is Sheriff Annie Cline, who was in charge of the investigation…”
> 
> “Thanks for having me, Marty.”
> 
> “Here is an update on Hannah and Beth Washington, the twins who are still missing…”

Sam looked through the window and spaced out for a while.  
  


She had heard different retellings of the same story for a year –and it still hurt as much as when she first realized Hannah and Beth were not coming back.

> “Well, thank you for joining us, Annie – …to all the Washingtons tonight …their son, Josh, on this, the anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of Hannah and Beth Washington.”

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do – not after a year.

When the broadcast ended, she watched Josh’s video. _Again_.  
  


> “Well hello, friends and fans… Alright, let’s do that again.”

Sam smiled.

The morning after the twins disappearance, Josh had been… devastated, for lack of a better word.

  
It had been rough…

  
At first, Josh and Sam had leant on each other for support, talking and making sure they were not drowning in their pain.

Then Josh had closed himself off, barely responding to his friend’s texts. Before long, he stopped replying at all.  
  


He disappeared for months – not even Chris could reach him – and then, a few weeks before the anniversary, he invited them all back to the lodge.

But Josh looked fine now, better. Maybe he was finally starting to heal.

> “Alright. Well hello, friends and fans! It’s beyond awesome to have you guys all back this year. First off, I gotta say I am super excited to welcome all my pals back to the annual Blackwood winter getaway!”

Josh made an excited noise, and Sam smiled warmly at the screen.

> “So, um… Let’s take a moment to address the elephant in the room for a second. I know you are all probably worried about me…”

_Yeah_ , Sam thought sadly. _We are._

Josh’s struggle with depression was no secret to her. She could still remember when Hannah had called her, some years ago, after finding out Josh was going to stay at a hospital for some time.

Hannah had been freaking out about _not knowing her own brother_.  
  


Sam had almost had to lock Hannah inside her room to stop her from driving all the way to the hospital just to make sure her brother was being properly fed.

Sam had been surprised too, but not as much as Hannah and Beth. After years of spending time in the Washington’s house, she knew Josh had a tendency to isolate himself – especially after a rough day or a bad panic attack –, so she had felt glad he was seeing a therapist.

Now, after the twins’ disappearance and Josh’s ghosting, she had no clue how her friend was doing.

> “…and I know it’s going to be tough on all of us going back after what happened last year,” Josh continued, “but I just want you all to know… it means – it means so much to me that we’re doing this. And I know it would mean so much to Hannah and Beth that we’re all still here together, thinking of them. I really want to spend some quality time with each and every one of you and share some moments that we will _never_ forget… for the sake of my sisters, you know? So let’s party like we are fucking porn stars, okay?”

“And make this one a trip we will never forget, alright? Yes!” Sam mouthed at the same time and pace as Josh.

* * *

Sam hopped off the bus, stretching a little after all those hours sitting down.

She had finally arrived at Blackwood Pines, but she was still far from the lodge.

As soon as she went through the wooden gate, she stopped; Sam had heard a noise, kind of like a branch being broken or the panting of a dog.   
  


“Hello?” she asked. “Is someone there?”

When no one answered, she kept on going to the cable car station.

Sam reached the metal gate and took the note attached to it:

_Gate's busted, climb over! - Chris._

Climbing over was no problem to her, but she had no idea how Jess or Ashley were going to do it.

She walked a few more steps before stopping again. She couldn’t help but feel like someone was following her. She felt the hairs on her neck rise.  
  


Sam started walking a little faster.

Sam reached the station and spotted a map of Blackwood Mountain with the words "THE PAST IS BEYOND OUR CONTROL" written in a thick, red substance.

“Wow, graffiti all the way up here.” The graffiti by itself was weird, but the _almost-fresh_ look of the painting was even weirder. "Yikes." 

She turned around and walked back to where she had seen Chris’ backpack placed.

“Chris? Are you here?”

In that moment, the boy's phone buzzed, she could hear his ringtone from somewhere inside his backpack, but ignored it and waited for her friend to come back.

“Hopefully, he won't take too long...”

“Sam! Hey you made it!” Sam heard Chris’ overly enthusiastic voice before she could see him. When Chris got nearer, he dragged Sam in for a bear hug. “I missed you so much.”  
  


“Missed you too, big guy” she said truthfully.  
  


“So, I found something amazing.” Chris said, picking up his backpack.  
  


“What?”  
  


“ _Samantha_ , I’m not going to spoil the surprise. You have to see it for yourself. Come with me.”

Sam followed Chris around the station and spotted a wanted poster of a man named "Victor Milgram".  
  


“Oh man, look at this...”  
  


“Nice, you think we'll get a visit from America's most wanted?”  
  


“God, you sound just like Josh.” Chris made a face, before they both started laughing.  
  


“Don't worry, though, this place is abandoned for most of the year. Nobody comes up here.” Chris patted Sam on the shoulder. 

After walking a short distance, Chris showed Sam the shooting range he had found, as well as a rifle.

“Ta-dah! Pretty rad, right?”

 _  
_“This was the big surprise?”  
  


“Come on! Look at these beauties.”  
  


“That’s not the word that comes to my mind. Why is this even here, Chris?”  
  


“What do you mean?”  
  


“What the hell is a shooting range doing at the base of a ski lodge?”  
  


Chris picked up the rifle, “ _Oh_ , it’s an _erstwhile_ tradition, m’lady. Back in the good ol’ days, a man had to prove his worth by climbing a deadly, snowy mountain and shooting some squirrels to feed the family, y’know?” He bowed his head a little.   
  


“Beautiful tradition” Sam answered, rolling her eyes.  
  


“I know, I know – makes you miss the good ol’ days.”  
  


“Sure." She looked him dead in the eye and asked, "Will you answer my question now?”  
  


“What question?”  
  


“Why is a shooting range here?”  
  


“Dude, have you ever met Josh's dad? He thinks he's, like, Grizzly Adams or something. Wanna give it a try?”  
  


“You go 'head, Grizzly.”

“Alright, here goes.”

Chris shot four objects without missing a single shot.

“I'm a badass!” Chris chanted, performing a silly dance.  
  


“I'm gonna go ahead and guess it was a _wild_ case of beginner's luck.”  
  


“It’s called talent, _gurl_.”

"Watch this," Chris readied his rifle once more.  
  


A squirrel wandered onto a nearby tree – Chris aimed at it, but ended shooting a sandbag instead.

“Nice shot.” Sam complimented. She knew Chris had a big, soft heart; honestly, that was one of the reasons she liked him so much.  
  


“Your ass just got saaaacked!”

Sam rolled her eyes – he had single-handedly ruined the moment.

Before Chris could dance some more, she said: “Hey, sharp-shooter, our ride is coming.”

They walked back to the cable car.

“Man, it’s definitely weird coming back up here after a whole year.” Chris admitted after a moment.  
  


“Yeah, I swear, the moment I got here it all just came flooding back.”  
  


“A year sure goes fast.”

_Not really,_ Sam thought, but kept quiet.

“Must be really hard on Josh...” Chris continued talking, “I don't know how he keeps it together. I'd, I mean, I'd be a wreck...”  
  


“He was a wreck _– we both were –_ in the beginning,” she admitted.  
  


“Wait, he talked to you? After what happened?” Chris asked, disbelief coating his voice, “He didn’t talked to me. Like, _at all_.”   
  


“Yeah, well, we both kinda needed each other, you know?”  
  


“But I was also sad! And scared!” Chris complained. “Hannah and Beth were like my own little sisters.”  
  


“Yeah, well try losing your _real_ sisters,” Sam heatedly interrupted, “or try losing your best friend _and_ your girlfriend.” Her last words were barely a whisper.

Chris looked at her, really looked at her.

“You and Beth…?”  
  


“Yeah.”  
  


“For how long?”  
  


“It was sort of a new thing. That’s why you guys didn’t know. We wanted to give it a try first.” Sam smiled sadly.  
  


“ _Oh, Sam_ …” Chris’ eyes were watery. He looked as if someone had slapped him. “Can I – Can I give you a hug?”  
  


“When have you ever asked?” Chris wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly.  
  


“You poor thing,” he cooed, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”  
  


“Well, you didn’t know.”

  
“That’s no excuse. As your bro in arms, it was my duty to check up on you, and I failed.”

“Okay, stop it. Let me go,” she stepped away from the embrace, but smiled widely. “Thanks, Chris.”

“Wait, Josh knew?”  
  


“And so did Hannah, though Josh probably knew I liked Beth even before _I_ knew.”  
  


“Yeah, that sounds like Josh,” Chris smiled. “So how is he?”

Sam let out a sigh, “Honestly, I don’t know. We're all just gonna have to keep an eye on him. He has been going through so much…”

  
“Yeah.”

Sam attempted to open the door to the station, but it was locked. Chris pulled out a key.

“Oh, right, Josh wanted us to keep it locked, you know, to keep people out. So he sent me this key a few nights ago.”

  
“What people?”

  
“I dunno, he said they found people sleeping in the station one time.”

  
“Creepy.” Chris nodded and unlocked the door.

  
“But that was a long time ago.” He stepped aside. “After you.”

  
“Wow, a _real_ gentleman.” Chris and Sam walkeded inside the station.

* * *

Sam entered the cable car first, followed by Chris.

“This is like going to prom,” he said. “But I bet you wouldn’t have been interested in me, right, Sammy?” he wiggled his brows in a flirtatious way. "Just because I don't have short, brown hair and a sweet, light-caramel complexion." 

  
“I’m starting to regret telling you about Beth…”

  
“Come on! Don’t be like that.” He smiled widely, “Hey, wanna know how Josh and I met?”

  
“Sure,” Sam answered.

In truth, she knew how they met. She could probably recite the story as well as Chris.

Josh had told it to her countless times, whenever he was feeling sad. _Damn_ , even Chris had told her the story before, after getting drunk with Josh.

So it was not new to her, but she enjoyed listening to it.

  
“Okay, third grade. Josh sat in the back of the room, and I sat in the front. We didn't even know each other existed. But, the kid sitting next to Josh started strap snapping the training bra on the girl in front of him, so the teacher made him move to the front, where I was sitting.”  
  


“And?”  
  


“I got moved to the back!”  
  


“Let me guess, next to Josh?”

  
“Next to Josh! That's how we met! And became friends to this day.”

“A match made in heaven,” Sam noticed the light blush that covered Chris’ cheeks.

He coughed a little before continuing, “If it weren't for the fact that Jeanie Simmonds hit puberty like, three years early and on that day decided to wear a low-cut shirt that showed off her training bra. I mean, who knows? You could be riding in this cable car alone or talking to some other person entirely. Boom, Butterfly Effect!”

Sam looked at Chris and smiled.

She knew Josh had a crush on him, and it was easy to see why: Chris was affable, witty, goofy _and_ nerdy, and he knew the worst jokes Sam had ever heard. Definitely Josh’s type.

Except… He was into Ashley.

“I’ll make sure to thank the Butterfly Goddess.”  
  


“That’s not how it works!” Chris bickered.

“Hey,” Sam decided to change topics, “do you think this was a good idea?”  
  


“What?” Chris looked a bit lost.  
  


“You know, getting everyone together on the anniversary.”

  
“ _Oh,_ yeah, it definitely was! I haven't seen Josh so excited in what feels like forever.”

  
“Good, good. I've been kinda worried...”

  
“Trust me, Sam, it was a good idea.”

  
“I hope everyone else feels the same way.”

  
“We're all going to be here, aren't we?” Chris reasoned. Sam jokingly punched Chris' arm.

  
“Thanks, _bro_! Good talk, _bro_.”

  
“Oh my God, I do not sound like that!”

  
“Well, you sure do when you are talking to Josh!”

  
“But he _is_ my bro!”

  
“Yeah, and all I hear when I’m with you is the endless echo of you two _bro, bro, bro-ing._ ”

  
“I don’t think that’s a real verb.”  
  


“Well, I just used it, so it must be. Boom, Butterfly Effect!”  
  


“Again, that’s _not_ how it works!” 


	2. Washington Lodge Grounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh boy, time to meet and greet.” Jess stood from the bench and moved around, hoping her muscles would respond after sitting in the cold for far too long. 
> 
> Her legs were sore and her hands were slightly shaking, but their shakiness had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with her nerves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ♥
> 
> This is not beta tested, so I apologize in advance for any and every mistake.

“Oh boy, time to meet and greet.” Jess stood from the bench and moved around, hoping her muscles would respond after sitting in the cold for far too long.

Her legs were sore and her hands were slightly shaking, but their shakiness had nothing to do with the weather and _everything to do_ with her nerves.

After a year of not seeing her friends, Jess was definitely nervous.

Sure, she had seen Mike _a lot_. And she was happy as his ~~new~~ girlfriend – he was good-looking, funny and ridiculously chivalrous at times –, but dating him also meant not talking to Emily, as the girl had made clear soon after her big breakup with Mike.

Which, honestly, sucked because Em used to be her best and closest friend.  
  


Then, Matt and Jess grew apart when the boy started dating Emily.  
  


She didn’t hear much of Ashley, Chris or Sam during that year –which was not a big surprise. They weren’t that close to begin with.

And, after the accident, Josh basically became a social ghost. 

So this whole _charade_ felt like a time bomb waiting to explode.

She was sure of it, even if her friends would not admit it.

Well, _she_ was not going to be the one to call them out on their crap. That was usually Emily’s shtick.

Jess jumped up from the bench when she heard a loud thud from the cable car station door.

“Ahh! What the hell?!” She screamed, holding her chest to calm down her beating heart.

“Jess! Hey!” Chris’ voice came from inside the car.

  
“Jessica! Over here!” That had to be Sam, the only one who would call her _Jessica_ unironically.

“Uh, are you guys having a really weird stroke?”

  
“No” Chris said matter-of-factly, “We're stuck in this stupid thing.”

  
“Can you please let us out? Pretty please?” Sam sounded almost desperate. Jess pushed the green button, and the door of the car opened with a swift _swish._

“Man! I really thought we were goners, Sammy. Another ten minutes in there and I would've chewed off my own leg.”

  
“Ew, sick, Chris.” Sam rolled her eyes.

  
“For the record, I never considered eating you first.”

  
“And why would that be?” Sam asked, poking Chris’ armor of jackets teasingly.

  
“Fine, I admit I’ve got more meat on my bones than you.” Chris took a step away from her, “But, just so you know, it is all muscle down here.”

  
“Yeah, right,” Jess mocked. Chris swiftly swiped the letter she was holding. “Hey!”

“Chris, don’t be a jerk” Sam reprimanded.

  
“Sorry, _mom_ ,” Chris said, sounding anything but sorry, “My goodness, seems like someone has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president Michael Munroe.”

  
“Give it back!” Jess demanded.

  
“And what kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining?” he looked challengingly at Jessica, but she stood a little straighter and held his gaze.

“Mike and Em _split_. We're together.”

  
“Woah, drama.”

  
“Not really. Pretty clear-cut, actually, Em's out. I'm in”

“Huh,” Sam had a bad feeling about it. The prank on Hannah had been about defending _Emily’s man_. She couldn’t – and wouldn’t – believe Emily was as thrilled with Mike’s new girlfriend.

  
“Alright, let's just get up to the lodge already,” Chris said, “I’m getting tired of all this nature and junk.” That immediately got Sam’s attention.

  
“You are unbelievable, Chris. This scenery is spectacular.” Sam told him, almost offended.

“Uh, you guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna wait here for a bit. See who else is coming.” Jessica said, trying to play it cool. Her face was blank, almost emotionless. Maybe _too_ emotionless… Chris didn’t buy it.

  
“You mean Mikey?” Chris teased.

  
“What? Uh, I mean, you know, whoever.” Her face was bright pink.

  
“So… Mike, right?” Chris fake-whispered to Sam, but the girl was no longer paying attention to them, “Uh, Sam?”

  
“Seriously, Chris. Have you taken a moment to see this view? I mean, holy cow! Sometimes I forget to just stop and take it all in.”

  
“Well, I’m going to take Sam to the lodge before she starts making out with a tree or something. See you later, Jessy girl.” Chris waved and _followed_ Sam up the mountain.

* * *

Matt opened the gate for Emily. She walked right through it without giving him a second glance.

  
Matt took a deep breath.

  
He wasn’t going to hold it against her. They had been walking for a long while, and Emily was getting snappier by the minute. Hell, _he_ was getting snappier too.

“Seriously, couldn't they have built the lodge, like, right where the cable car ends?” Emily complained. Matt looked at her boots…

Despite how pretty they were, he was sure they were most definitely not for walking.

“I don't think it would have been as pretty, you know?” he said, “Besides, nobody wants a big, beautiful house next to an old cable car station. Not when you can have it in the middle of a snowy paradise, overlooking the mountains.”

  
“And is that supposed to be my fault?” Emily complained.

  
“Why did you bring those shoes, Em?” Matt asked finally. “You knew we were going to have to walk.”

  
“Uh, these? _Boots_?” Emily stopped. She looked at Matt as if he were the single most stupid person on the planet. “For your information, these are Gianvito Rossi knee-high block-heel boots.”

  
“Isn’t that the guy from Criminal Minds?” Emily just walked a little faster, not even acknowledging his question.

“And where's the bellboy when you need one?!” She said instead.

  
“Oh, you mean other than me?” Matt was carrying his and Emily's luggage. She hadn’t even offered to help.

  
“ _Ha, ha,_ very funny.” The two continued walking towards a bridge.

Emily shivered, “It’s colder than last year.”

Matt smiled at her. Her comment hadn’t been smooth. _Not at all_.

But he would never hurt her pride.

  
If Emily were just cold, she would have never admitted it. But given that she had, Emily was either trying to make some small talk or asking for something from Matt.

“Do you want my jacket?” he offered. Matt slipped out of his jacket and placed it around his girlfriend’s shoulders before she could even reply.

Emily smiled a little, pulling the jacket tighter around her. She looked at the trees surrounding them. Her smile faded slowly.

Emily had been somewhat off since they arrived at the Washington Lodge Grounds. It was starting to worry Matt.

“Hey, are you okay?”

  
“Yeah, it’s just – it’s going to be weird seeing everyone up here again.”

  
“Definitely not gonna feel like a regular party. I mean, what do you think –”

Matt and Emily were abruptly interrupted when Mike jumped from behind the bridge, shouting and moving his arms like a madman.

“Woah! Dude!”

  
“JESUS!” Emily screamed, holding her chest in an attempt to calm the rapid beating of her heart.

Mike laughed, “You really should've seen your faces right there.”

“Dude, I almost clocked you just now.”

  
“Michael, you're a jerk.”

  
“Come on guys, we're all friends here, right? No need for violence, just a little harmless fun. We're up in the woods, it's spooky, come on, let's get into the spirit of things!”

  
“Really, Michael? After what happened last year?” Emily changed her stance, resting all her weight on one leg. “Seriously, what's wrong with you?”

Mike fell silent. He almost looked ashamed, Matt noticed.

“I was just trying to lighten the mood, Em. Don't be like that.”

  
“Like what?”

  
“The way you're being – you always get like this.”

Matt squared his shoulders and took a step, blocking Mike’s sight of Em.

“Michael, I'm just gonna lay it out, otherwise this whole weekend's gonna suck ass for everyone. This is super awkward, and we all know it. Let's just acknowledge it now and move on. Okay?”

  
“Matt–” Emily looked at her boyfriend, surprised in a pleasant way.

  
“I hear you, man. I get it, I don't want to make this weird,” Mike sighed. “Or, you know, _weirder_.”

  
“Cool. So we're good?”

  
“All good.”

  
“You guys gonna make out, now?” Emily asked mockingly.

  
“Oh, we're _so_ gonna make out.” Mike answered, continuing the joke, “But you know a gentleman never kisses and tells, Em.”

Emily made an exasperated face.

  
“Well, guys, I'm gonna go check on the cable car back down the trail.” Mike said, before walking away.

  
“See ya, man.” Matt waved, feeling pleased with the outcome of their conversation.

  
“See ya!”

“Ah, crap!” Emily cursed.

  
“What?”

  
“Hey, could you take these the rest of the way?”

  
“The bags?”

  
“Yeah, just... all the bags.”

  
“You know I was just joking about being your bellboy, right?”

  
“I know, but I really need to go find Sam.” Emily tried to fake innocence. She needed Matt to drop the subject without questioning her further.

  
“Sam? You barely talk to Sam.”

  
“First of all, you don’t get to say who is or isn’t my friend. Sam and I _are_ friends. Secondly, I really need to go find her. I need to talk to her before we get all the way up there.”

  
“This really can't wait? We're almost there.”

  
“It's important. Matt, _please_.” Matt didn’t like the idea of Emily heading back by herself, but she was stubborn. And she could protect herself _and Matt_ if needed.

Plus, Matt couldn’t say no to her. “Fine. I guess I can pack-horse the rest of the way, but you owe me one.”

  
“Excuse me?”

  
“Yeah, I’m going to carry all your bags – and mine – the rest of the way. By myself.”

  
“Fine, I'll think about it.”

  
“Just… _Be careful_ , Em.”

  
“See you up there, sweetie.” Emily turned to go, but stopped, “And thank you.”

  
Matt picked up Emily's bags and walked towards the lodge.

Emily walked towards the cable car station.

* * *

Ashley had been looking through the binoculars for around an hour.

That was her favorite place in Mount Washington. Chris had first showed it to her.

He led her all the way up there, holding her hand and talking excitedly about something _amazing_ he and Josh had found last summer.

That was a few years ago – when things were easier and their group of friends was still _complete_.

Since then, she had made a tradition out of going up to the binoculars and spending some time alone.

“ _Oh_.” Ashley saw Emily and Mike through the binoculars. They were standing close, very close. “Woah, somebody's getting a little _friendly_ and not in the friend-zone kind of way. They might need to check the expiration date on their big breakup.”

  
If she could just zoom in a bit more…

Matt's eyes suddenly popped up on the screen.

“Oh God! God!” She shouted. Ashley tried to jump away, but lost her balance – a strong hand caught her before she could hit the ground.

  
“Whoa! Sorry, Ash, I didn't mean to scare you.”

  
“Jeez Louise!”

  
“Well, I did mean to sort of scare you, but not like _for real_ scare you...”

  
“That doesn’t make it better, Matt!”

  
“I'm really sorry Ash.” Ash looked at him and scrunched up her nose. Matt wasn’t a bad guy, but he did have terrible timing for his pranks.

  
“It's okay. I'm fine.”

  
“Good.” He smiled relieved, “So what are you looking at? See anything juicy with that thing?”

Her blood went cold. She couldn’t let him see Mike and Emily...

It would cause unnecessary drama.

She would find the time to talk to Emily about it, so _she_ could set things straight with Matt.

  
And Mike.

“Nah, it's kinda busted. It's not – it’s not really interesting.”

  
“What? For real?”

  
“Yeah, you would probably get a better view with Chris’ glasses.”

Matt raised an eyebrow.

  
“ _Chris, huh_?” Ashley blushed furiously at the implication of his question.

  
“Yeah, you know Chris. He is, like, almost blind. He has always been really blind, actually. Since I first met him. So his glasses are like portable binoculars and –”

  
“Ash, you’re rambling.” The girl closed her mouth midsentence. “So you haven’t talked to him?”

  
“Not yet.”

  
“Why?”

  
“I guess there hasn’t been a chance.” She hid her face in her hands. “He is always busy with school or his games – or worrying about school _and Josh_ or his games _and_ _Josh_ or anything else, really.”

  
“But you like that big, worrying nerd.” Matt chuckled. Ashley avoided his gaze because, well, he was right.

“So… You and Emily?” She asked instead, smiling faintly.

  
“Yeah,” Matt answered immediately. “I really like her. I’m not so sure she likes me, though.”

  
“I bet she does. She wouldn’t put up with you if she didn’t.”

  
“I guess.”

  
“Trust me,” Ashley tried to forget what she saw through the binoculars. “Shall we get going then?”

  
“Sounds good.”

“Oh, do you need help with those bags, Matt?”

  
“Oh my God, _please_.”

* * *

Jessica was still sitting next to the cable car station. She opened a book she wasn’t really interested in reading but was one of Mike’s favorite – so she might as well give it a chance.

A snowball crashed into the wall near her head. She jumped out of the way, leaving the book behind.

  
  


“What the hell?” She asked. “Mike?”

  
“Put your hands where I can see 'em. We've got you surrounded.” Mike’s voice called. He appeared on her line of vision, moving slowly, one foot at a time.

  
“What choice do I – a supple young rebel girl – have, but to surrender to the handsome… _cowboy_ that has come to take me into custody?”

  
“I’m a military guard.”

  
“Are you sure?” Mike nodded eagerly. Jess adopted a thoughtful stance. “Yeah, well, you don’t move like a military guard.”

  
“How can you be so sure?”

  
“I know _all_ your moves.”

  
“Certainly not all of them.” He said, “I’ve still got some trick up my sleeve.”

  
While Mike was distracted proving his point, Jessica ran and threw a snowball at him, successfully hitting him in the face.

“Oh! You are so gonna pay for that, Jess.”

They played for what seemed like hours, but felt like seconds. There was something about the mountain… Time felt almost surreal, magical.

The battle ended. Mike and Jess were out of breath. 

  
“You're a worthy opponent, Ms. Jessica the Snowball Queen.”

  
“Okay that sounds _vaguely_ dirty.”

  
“Is Queen of the Frosted Balls better?”

  
“Now you are just teasing.”

  
“Weird, shouldn’t that be you?”

  
“You wouldn’t know, would you?” She smiled. Her eyes glinted with mischief.

Mike smiled and took Jess’ hand, pulling her close and kissing her.

“Save some for later, buddy,” Jessica said as soon as she could.

  
“Endless reserves.” Mike smiled, “For now, though, we should get to the lodge. Before it starts snowing.”

  
“But it's so nice out here…”

Mike looked at Jess’ pink face, “Yeah, pretty breathtaking.”

Jess smiled at him adoringly.

  
“I mean, I could stay out here for pretty much ever. Provided I was making out with you the whole time,” Mike said in the sexiest tone he could muster.

  
“Just making out?”

  
“Unless you have a better idea?”

  
“I do, actually.” Jess answered in a similar voice.

  
“You do?”

  
“Yeah, not freezing to death,” She got up, chuckling at Mike’s betrayed face. “Come on, let’s get to the lodge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> (PS: I changed the title of this fic.)


	3. Nine Hours Until Dawn - Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That was great.” Sam said happily. “How can anyone not feel connected to nature after that?” 
> 
> Chris looked at her as if she had lost her mind. 
> 
> “You’re killing me here, Samantha,” Chris said with a wheeze. “Seriously, how do you do that?” Before Sam could answer, a familiar voice spoke up.

When Chris and Sam reached the lodge, Chris was most definitely out of breath. He bent over, resting his hands on his knees.

 _Someday, he was going to die trying to get to the lodge_ , he was sure.

Sam, on the other hand, looked even more energetic than before.

“That was great.” Sam said happily. “How can anyone not feel connected to nature after that?” Chris looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

  
“You’re killing me here, Samantha,” Chris said with a wheeze. “Seriously, how do you do that?” Before Sam could answer, a familiar voice spoke up.

  
  
“Glad to see you keep fit, Cochise.” Chris’ head shot up, eyes wide. There, in front of them, was Josh Washington. He was wearing a knit wool beanie and a sleeveless puffer jacket.

After a year of not hearing from him, seeing Josh right in front of them felt like too much. Chris almost wept with joy.

Josh smiled, and Chris knew – _felt_ – that he had been right: meeting with everyone after a year had definitely been the right choice.

“Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it.” Chris told Josh, smiling widely.

  
“Oh, totally. Feels the same to me.”

  
“Come on, you grew up here.” Chris said, ignoring the fact that, of all their friends, he had spent the most time there with the Washingtons. “And you are as weird as Sam, all nature-loving and sporty. It probably feels like the mountain’s shrinking by now.”

  
“Yeah, you're right.” Josh chuckled. “Hey, Sammy, good to have you here.”

  
“Sounds like we get to be weird together,” The girl said, waving. “While Chris throws up his lungs after the minimum amount of exercise.”

  
“That would be a pretty picture.” Josh teased. “I call dibs on keeping his guts.”

  
“That's sick, Josh.” Sam reprimanded.

  
“Well, I have been obsessed with gore and scary movies since I was eight, Sammy. I think we can safely say _I’m_ sick.” He reasoned and then turned to Chris. “I promise I will use your guts for good, bro. I will _only_ use them to make my upcoming movie more believable.”

  
“Oh, sure.” Chris smiled. Making a movie had been Josh’s dream for as long as he had known him. “Don’t forget to thank me in your award-acceptance speech.”

  
“ _To the loving memory of my best friend. I humbly accept this award, and may his death be forever in our hearts.”_

  
“Ok, no need to patronize me, _bro_.” Chris turned and raised his phone. “Seriously, when are you going to install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already.”

Josh raised a brow, looking at Chris mockingly.

  
“You got a spare million lying around and I'll fix you right up.”

  
“Funny you should say that, Mr. I Have a Whole Mountain with my Name…” He patted the pockets of his jacket. “Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket.”

  
“Oops. Guess it’ll have to be next time.”

“Come on, lovebirds. Let’s get to the lodge already,” Sam said. “I need a hot bath.”

Chris, Josh, and Sam walked up to the foot of the lodge. There they found Ashley sitting down on the stairs with Matt.

“Hey, gang, you guys get up here okay?” Josh asked. Matt stood up, giving him a quick hug.

  
“Could’ve done with some bellboys, but can't get everything, right?”

  
“Yeah, it was pretty easy. A little creepy, though.” Ashley added form the stairs. “I mean, it's just really weird being back here.”

Josh smiled tightly, without any brightness. Chris knew that was one of Josh’s many fake smiles. He had seen a lot of them throughout the years.

  
Chris frowned.

  
However, soon after, Josh’s shoulders relaxed and his smile became somewhat realer.

Eager to change the subject, Chris said, “Are we gonna get things moving up here or what?”

  
“Yeah, man!” Josh replied matching Chris’ enthusiasm, thankful for the bit of help.

Chris gave Josh a friendly clap on the shoulder, and they walked upstairs.

When the boys were further from the group, Chris looked at Josh worriedly. Queasiness clear in his blue eyes.

“Hey, you doin' alright?” He asked without further ado. “I mean it must be really tough without your sis–”

  
“Stop.”

  
“I just meant that–”

  
“I know what you meant, Chris.” The blond cringed at Josh’s clear sadness. “You know, seriously, I'm over it. I just want us to have a great time, you know? Like we always used to.”

Chris wished it were that simple. He wished to get rid of Josh’s barely concealed grieve.

“Yeah, just…” Chris tried again. “Know that it’s okay if you are not, well, okay.”

  
“What a mouthful, Cochise.” Josh commented, ignoring what his best friend had said. He tried to open the lock of the lodge's front door, but to no avail. “Dammit. This freaking thing...”

  
“It's iced?”

  
“You expected anything else?” Josh chuckled.

  
“Maybe there's another way in.” Chris, showing why he was the brains in their group, said.

  
“There are a million ways in. They're just all locked.” Josh said matter-of-factly. 

  
“There are many windows we can, like, _get open_ or something.”

  
“Wait a second, are you saying we should break in?”

  
“I don't think it's technically breaking in if you own the place, right?”

  
“Not if I don't report you.”

  
“Would you report _me_? Your best and most favorite bro?” Chris looked at his best friend almost offended. 

  
“Most favorite?” Josh pondered the question. “I mean, you sure are in the top five, if that’s any consolation.”

  
“Hey! What have I done to not be your favorite?” Chris shoved Josh playfully.

  
“Watch it! You’re on thin ice, young boy.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “But seriously, it wouldn’t be our first time breaking in.” Chris told him. “Remember when Beth locked us out of the lodge? We literally broke the kitchen’s window pane.”

“Yeah, and I was grounded for _months_.”

  
“But we didn’t die from frostbite!”

  
“Technically, we would have died from gangrene, not frostbite.”

  
“Same difference.”

  
“Not really. You see, frostbite is the freezing of tissue. Usually when people die from frostbite, it is actually from some complication down the road such as gangrene, which is far more common.”

  
“Then what about hypothermia?”

  
“Yeah, that’s a more plausible cause of death. Hypothermia can lead to complete failure of your heart and respiratory system and eventually to death. I guess we could’ve died of hypothermia.”

  
“That was so My Chemical Romance of you, Josh. _Poetic_ , but dark.” Chris joked. “So… do we find another way in? Or do you also want to use my gangrened body for your movie?” 

  
“Lead the way, Cochise.” Josh pointed to the way they had come from and followed Chris down the stairs.

However, before continuing down the side of the lodge, Chris stopped to talk to Ashley. 

The girl looked cold and scared and lonely - He felt like he _had_ to ask how she was really doing. 

  
“Hey, Ash.”

  
“Hi, Chris!” Chris smiled. Despite everything, Ashley still was the sweet and cheerful girl he knew, and it was always great having her around.

  
“You doing alright?”

  
“Yeah, aside from being kind of cold. I think I could use some time curled up by the fire.”

  
“I think we all need some of that. It’s certainly colder than last year.” Then, he turned to Matt, who was still sitting next to Ashley. “Matt! How's it hangin'?”

  
“Pretty good, man! Can't complain. You?”

  
“Oh, you know. Same ol' same ol'.”

  
“Cool.”

  
  
“So, you and Emily.” Chris made kissy noises, and with a flirtatious voice said, “I think congratulations are in order.”

  
“Thanks, man. It was kind of unexpected, but it's been great so far.”

  
“Well, as they say, even Satan needs some love.”

  
“Hey! Em is not that bad.” Matt replied, but laughed wholeheartedly. “Oh right! Sam, did you talk to Em?”

  
“Em?” The girl asked, walking toward her friends.

  
“Yeah, she said she needed to talk to you.”

  
“I had no idea.” Sam said cluelessly. “Do you know if it was important? Should I go looking for her?”

  
“Oh!” Ashley spoke up nervously. “I’m sure it’s not important. And if it _is_ important, you can always talk to her when she comes back.”

  
“Yeah, I guess…” Sam said, though she still looked unconvinced. “Hey, isn’t Josh waiting for you, Chris?”

  
“Crap.” Chris cursed and hurriedly caught up to Josh. The boy glanced at him, but didn’t ask, and Chris didn’t try to explain what had taken him so long. He then followed Josh towards the back of the lodge.

Josh was looking at Chris out of the corner of his eye.

He didn’t want to be too obvious, but he wasn’t really worried – Chris was the most oblivious person knew.

“Like what you see?” Chris asked teasingly.

_What? He couldn’t know…_ Josh felt the panic rising in his chest. _Hell, maybe Chris wasn’t as oblivious_ _as_ _he thought._

“Ashley was looking hot today, right?” He asked, desperate. “She's like a _sleeper hit_ kinda gal, you know?”

  
Chris laughed at that. “Is comparing her to an at-first shitty movie supposed to be a compliment?”

  
“Don’t bluff, I know you wanna rip that parka right off her and make some snow angels.”

  
“God, stop.” Chris was laughing so much he was almost crying. “You are terrible at _this_.” 

  
“But you like her.” Something in Josh’s chest crumpled.

  
“Yeah, I mean, I do.”

  
“So when are you going to take her to the bone zone?”

  
“Sheesh... like that could ever happen.”

  
“Come on, man. You are a fine specimen, with your baby-blue eyes and your broad shoulders and–” Josh’s eyes widened. He had messed up. He was being too obvious. “I mean, she practically spends her entire life with you as it is. And she definitely likes you too.”

  
“Well, yeah, but we're friends–”

  
“Listen, dude. You are my _best and favorite_ bro, so I’m going to help you just this once.” Josh stopped dead in his tracks and placed his hands on Chris’ shoulders. “Look around you. Can you imagine a better scenario, just dripping with erotic possibilities? You and Ashley, alone at last. You have laid all the groundwork. You have been a perfect gentleman. Now you come in for the kill!”

Chris blushed, and Josh had to look away. He moved his hands, placing them at his sides, and waited for an answer.

  
He knew having a relationship with Chris was impossible for him, so he was going to make sure Chris was happily dating _his actual crush_ – in spite of his feelings.

Even if that ended up killing him.

He was already fucked up, anyways.

“I–” Chris stammered. “I mean, thanks, bro, but I just wanna spend some quality time with everyone and relax, you know? It has been rough lately.”

  
“You giving up so quickly? Not even going to fight for the lady?” Josh teased. “God, _Mario_ would be so disappointed.”

  
“Leave Mario out of this, _Josh_.” Chris joked with a threatening voice. 

  
“He went to every single castle in, like, eight different worlds just to find and rescue Peach. Even as the stupid ‘shrooms kept telling him his princess was in another castle, he never gave up. He was driven by his determination to take her to the bone zone and he succeeded. Now I’m asking you, are you a Mario or a _Luigi_?”

  
“Alright, alright. I got it. Jeez.” Chris answered. He smiled despite himself, “So you were listening.”

  
“Huh?”

  
“You know, when I was telling you about the New Super Mario Bros game.”

  
“Well, yeah.” Josh smiled. “You always talk about it, or about Nathan Drake or Link. Of course I was going to pick some of it.”

  
“That was more than just _some_ of it.” Chris said, and Josh rolled his eyes.

  
“Keep that up and I’m going to bury you in snow and let you out here to die from _frostbite_.” He warned. “But I really do think you should ask Ashley out.”

  
“I don't know, man... What if it's weird, or what if she no longer wants to be friends with me if I try something like that?”

  
“It's simple. Just grow a pair.” Josh said with faked disgust.  
  


Chris was smiling so much it had started to hurt. “God, I missed you, Josh.”

  
“And I missed you.” He said after a moment of silence. “Sorry for disappearing on you. I just needed–”

  
“Josh, you don’t have anything to be sorry about. I understand.” Josh smiled sadly.

  
“So how are we planning on breaking into my parents' lodge, bud?”

“Wait, I didn't say I had a plan.”

  
“You sounded like you had a plan.” Josh was not going to give Chris a break. Not that night. “You better deliver, Cochise, or else four lovely ladies are gonna freeze their buns off. And, last time I checked, that's not a good way to get laid.”

  
“Well shoot. Nobody likes cool buns.” Chris saw an empty axe holder. “Hey, shouldn’t there be an axe here?”  
  


Josh stood beside him. “Ideally, yes. To be honest, I have no idea how long it’s been missing. God, my parents are going to be _so_ pissed.”

“Hmm...” Chris turned. “Hey, how about that cabinet?”

  
“Well, well, well. We’ve got ourselves a thinker. Nice one, Cochise.”

They pushed the cabinet until it was underneath the window. Chris climbed on top of it.

He opened the window, climbed in with confidence, but lost balance and fell on his back.

“Chris?”

  
“Ugh, I'm okay.” He groaned. “I should have paid more attention in climbing class...”

  
“You mean _gym_?”

  
Chris sat down, rubbing his head. “Yeah, you know, with the climbing up the rope–”

The light bulb smashed, darkening the room.

  
“Whoa.”

  
“Did I do that?”

  
“I don't think so. It was probably the cold air.” Josh explained. He fished out a lighter from his pocket and threw it to the blond. “Here, use this.”

  
Chris turned it on. “Thanks.”

  
“Whoa, Chris, I just got an awesome idea!”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“Totally!”

  
Chris smiled at Josh’s excited voice. “Well, what is it!?”

  
“Okay. So, I am sure I've got deodorant in one of the bathrooms.”

  
“Eh... good for you, Josh? I mean, you _do_ need it sometimes.”

  
“Yadda yadda. I meant you could use the deodorant with the lighter.”

  
“I don't follow. How's a stick of deodorant gonna help?”

  
“It’s not a stick.” Josh paused dramatically. “It's a _can_.”

  
“Ohhh, yeah! Now I gotcha.”

  
“Flamethrower!” They both exclaimed at the same time.

  
  
“Just like we did with my lil' army dudes.” Chris added.

  
“Yup. The ones we melted.” Josh danced a little, but almost lost his balance for he was still standing on the cabinet. “Just point the spray-can at the lighter and then _fwoosh_.”

  
“Bye-bye frozen lock.”

  
“Bingo! Alright, so you got this.” He gave the blond a thumbs up. “I'm gonna head back to the group. You up for hunting around in the dark a little bit?”

  
“You know I’m not. But I'll do it.”

  
“Oh, you’re _so_ brave.” Josh said affectionately. “Godspeed, pilgrim.” Having said that, he jumped off and out of sight.

Chris stood up.

  
There was an odd noise, like a door being closed. “What the hell was that?” He felt a chill run down his spine. Better hurry.

Luckily, he knew the house like the palm of his hand. Probably even better.

  
He passed through the door that connected to the living room and looked out the lodge’s door window, seeing Sam and Ashley.

He hid behind the door and howled. “WOOOooOOooooOOO!”

“Very funny, Chris.” Sam said not sounding amused.

  
“How'd you know it was me?”

  
“I know everything, Christopher.” She said and, for the life of him, Chris believed her. “Shouldn't you be getting the lock open or something?”

  
“Right on it, ma’am!”

He hurried up the stairs and headed directly to the bathroom. Chris grabbed the can of deodorant in the bathroom, but a feral ball of fur and teeth popped out from the cabinet, almost giving him a heart attack. 

“Ah! Son of a-! What the fuck!” He stood there for a few seconds catching his breath. “Damned nature, man.”

He took the deodorant can and hurried downstairs.

  
He heard Ashley’s voice, “We're freezing out here, Chris!”

Chris melted the ice off the lock and opened the door. The handle was still hot and he winced, shaking his hand.

  
“You okay?” Asked Josh. He walked closer to Chris, took his hand and examined it. “It doesn’t look too bad. Do you want some ice for it?”

  
“Don’t worry, man. I’ll just stick my hand in some snow or something.” He smiled dismissively.

The same animal that had scared Chris before ran out of the front door.

“EEEK! Jeez!” Chris screamed for the second time that night. Sam and Ashley laughed. “Crap, that thing freaked me out.”

  
“What was it? Are you okay?” Ashley asked worriedly.

  
“It was like a bear, or a tiger or something–”

  
“Aw, it was just a cute little baby wolverine, Chris.” Sam said, giggling. Josh nodded and smiled mischievously.

  
“Baby? Was that a baby?”

  
“Don't worry, buddy, you're going to be a big boy soon.” Josh teased and pinched Chris’ cheek. The blond swatted his hand away.

  
  


Josh entered the house and opened his arms widely. “Home, sweet home.”

  
“Oh my Gosh, it's so good to be inside.” Ashley said, rushing past Josh. “Even if it's still kinda freezing in here.”

  
“I'll get a fire going.” Josh bowed a little and went to get some wood.

“This place barely looks any different.” Matt said mid-thought.

  
“Look at the dust. Nobody's been up here, Matt.” Sam stood near the boy.

  
Ashley followed Sam’s gaze and asked, “Even with all the police coming in and out?”

  
“No.” Josh said coldly. His voice left no room for more questions.

A tense silence settled over the room. Nobody wanted to be the one to disrupt the group’s silent peace treaty.

Even breathing felt like a charged task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. The Lodge Debacle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Excuse me, did you say something?” Jess stood up, taking a defensive stance.  
> Sam winced – she knew something like this was doomed to happen. 
> 
> “Oh did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?”
> 
> “Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut.” Jessica retorted smirking.

“What's up, party people!” Michael hollered as he arrived hand in hand with Jessica.

  
“Heeey!” His girlfriend greeted happily. Everyone else let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding, grateful for Mike and Jess’ intervention. 

  
“Hi, guys.” Josh waved.  
  


“Oh my God, it’s so good to see you, Josh. How are you?” Jessica said, hurrying to wrap Josh in a tight embrace. “You look skinnier. Have you been eating?”

What still managed to surprise Chris – _after years of friendship_ – was how well Josh got along with Jessica and Emily.

  
While Chris had trouble talking to anyone other than Sam, Ashley or Josh, his best friend was a total people person: his inappropriate flirty side matched Jessica’s humor perfectly, and Emily and Josh were bitch-mates. Kind of like soulmates, but much more intimidating. 

“God, you’re even worse than Sam, Jess.” Josh took a calculated step out of Jess’ reach. “ _Relax_ , I’m fine... Well, no, I’m _dying_ to know all about your sex-life with Mikey here.”

  
“What is there to say? He’s pretty great…” Jessica smiled devilishly at Josh, “ _In bed_.”

  
“Yes, girl!” Josh high-fived Jessica, laughing almost hysterically. “Iconic _._ God, I have so much respect for you.”

“You two are a menace to society.” Mike chimed in. He was slightly blushed, a remnant of Jessica’s early comment.

  
“Everyone who gets along with Josh is a menace to society.” Ashley said. “That’s just a fact.”

  
“She’s not wrong, you guys.” Josh smiled. He actually looked like he was having a good time.

 _  
Even though he did look skinny_ , Chris thought.

  
“But that also means all of you are a menace to society.” Josh smiled.

  
“Takes one to know one, right?” Chris said smugly. “Hey, can I brew some coffee?”

  
“Sure, you know where everything is.” Chris stood up, and Ashley followed him to the kitchen. Josh tried not to stare, but he was weak – _and jealous_.

Mike sat on the loveseat next to the fireplace.

Jessica hurried to his side and nestled her head against his shoulder. Mike kissed her lovingly.

  
“Oh là là, are we going to see some action, little Miss Jessica Riley?” Josh teased, happy to distract himself with _anything_ that would take his eyes away from Chris.

  
“I don’t know Josh, are you finally going to make out with Chris?” She replied. Josh tensed.

  
Jessica usually _ruled the roost_ with her smart mouth; second only to Emily’s snappy retorts _and_ explosively quick temper. Not even Mike stood a chance against them.

  
“Rude.” Josh pointed out, not even trying to defend his pride, and Mike laughed.  
  


“I mean, we could always arranged a private little show for your birthday, Josh.” Mike spoke up. “If you are into that.”  
  


“Jeez, could you try not to be disgusting when you are in public.” Em, who had just arrived, complained. “It’s _really_ gross.”

Chris and Ashley, who were coming back from the kitchen, stopped dead in their tracks.

“Excuse me, did you say something?” Jess stood up, taking a defensive stance. Sam winced – she knew something like this was doomed to happen.

  
“Did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?”

  
“Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut.” Jessica retorted smirking.

  
“Oh, trust me, no one wants in on your territory, honey.” Emily deadpanned. “I guess you get to be top cow now. Congrats, _Jess_.”

  
“If calling Miss Homecoming a cow makes you feel better, then be my _fucking_ guest.”

  
“Em, Jess, come on.” Matt said. “Cut it out.”

  
“Shut up, Matt.” Emily snapped back.

“Stay out of it, you dumb oaf.” Jess said at the same time.

  
“Hey, watch it.”

  
“What? You're the only one who can put him down?” Jessica took a step closer to Emily. “No one else can play with your toys?”

  
“You're a bitch.”

Chris walked up to Josh. “Hey, what the hell happened while we were gone?” He asked.

  
Josh looked at him – looking slightly like a kicked puppy – and shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe they just need to let off some steam.”

  
“Yeah, before they burn up the lodge.” Both boys turned to the on-going fight.

  
  


“Stop! This is out of hand. There's no reason to fight like this!” Matt said.

  
“Oh, really? So, Matt, why is your girlfriend picking fights over her ex-boyfriend? Huh?” Jessica replied, successfully shutting Matt up.

  
“I’m about to show you why pretty girls should keep their mouths shut, Jess.” Emily warned, squaring her shoulders.

  
“Are we about to get real? Cause I am down to get real.” Jessica walked up to Emily, eager to start a fight.

Before anything else could happen, Josh got up.  
  


“Okay, that’s enough!” He addressed his friends, “ _Jess_ , it’s a real dick move to shove your relationship with Mike in Emily's face just to rile her up.”

  
“Right?” Emily scoffed. “Attention whore.” 

  
“ _Em_ , Mike is no longer yours – so get over it! This is not why we came up here, guys.” He grinned, but his smile was painfully fake. Josh looked close to giving up.  
  


Jessica and Emily looked at him out of shame, not regret. That was enough, though.

  
“If we can't get along for ten minutes, then maybe we need a break, right? Mike, why don't you check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about.”

  
“Yeah, alright.” He turned and asked Jessica, “Want to go do that?”

  
“Sure.” She replied, “Any place without that bitch.” Sam hurriedly grasped Emily’s arm, preventing another fight.

  
“It's right up the trail. You literally can’t get lost, trust me.” Josh explained with a small smile. “Wait for me outside while I go grab the keys.” Mike and Jess left.

  
“Glad that's over!” Matt heavily exhaled, pretending his head was about to explode.

  
“Hey, could you get this fire going?” Josh asked him. “I won’t take long.”

  
“Sure, man.” Matt stood up and took a log; Josh went for the keys. 

_How hard could starting a fire be?_ he thought. However, after five minutes, he was still failing miserably.

  
  
“Need a hand?” Chris asked, crouching by Matt's side.

  
“Yeah, I can’t start this stupid fire.”  
  


“Bro, you will never start a fire with those logs. They are _too_ wet.”  
  


“What?”  
  


“Yeah, the Washingtons use those logs to keep the rest of the wood dry. Just take some logs from the middle of the pile. Those are the most seasoned.”   
  


“How do you know that?” Matt sounded incredulous.  
  


“Experience?” Chris smiled. “Also, there are a lot of videogames that actually teach some basic survival skills, you know?” 

  
“Guess you can’t judge a geek by his cover.”

  
“Hey!”

  
  


“Matt, where's my bag?” Emily asked after a moment, loud enough for them to hear.

  
“Huh?”

  
“The one I got on Rodeo! Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos while you were flirting with that girl at the counter?”

  
“I already told you I was not flirting with her, okay?” Matt walked towards Emily. “And now that we are talking about flirting with _other_ people, Em, I have a question.”

  
“What?” She folded her arms across her chest.

  
“You couln't have been talking to Sam, because she was here with us. So what took you so long?” He asked. “ _What_ were you actually doing?” Emily was taken aback by his question. The betrayal was clear in Matt’s eyes.

  
“I don’t know what you are implying, Matt, but it wasn’t like that.” Emily explained, sounding annoyed and done with the conversation. “Look, I need my bag, Matt, and I’ll go look for it. You can either stay here or go with me like a good boyfriend would.”

Matt still looked hurt, but he was slowly giving up. “And then we can get warm?”

  
“We can get as warm as _you_ want.”

  
“Okay, let's go.” Matt pointed towards the exit. Emily had clearly won their little argument, so all he had left was playing it cool. “I must have left it down by the cable car station.”

“Man! That was crazy.” Chris said after the couple left. “And here I thought I was exaggerating when I said he was dating Satan…” 

  
“I really thought Jess was going to kill Em.” Ashley confessed.

  
“Oh, you really think Jess stands a chance against Emily?” Josh asked in disbelief. He had seen Emily manhandle and fight people twice her height and way heavier than her. It was terrifying, really.

  
“I love Jess as much as the next person.” Chris laughed and clapped Josh on the shoulder. “But I have to agree with Joshington; Emily would have shredded her. Trust me, Ash.”

“It’s so quiet now that everyone else is gone.” Sam said, standing next to the fire and rubbing her hands for extra warmth.

  
“Maybe it was a bad idea inviting everyone else here.” Josh blurted out after a moment of silence. “Things have changed, I know, but I just wanted to hold on to the past for a while longer.”

Sam walked closer to Josh and hugged him from behind, laughing as he immediately melted in the embrace. “Things have never been easy between us _all_ , but that’s the beauty of it. We are a family; despite the bickering and fighting, we will always be there for each other. And I for one am glad you invited us here.”

“Yeah, ditto.” Chris said without missing a beat. “Guys, I think this calls for a group hug.” Josh’s body tensed immediately. He looked at Chris with something akin to shock or displeasure, but Chris was not going to back off.

If anything, Josh’s reluctance to hug only encouraged him.

“Oh my God! Yes!” Ashley joined in. She hugged Chris and Sam, who was still holding Josh, and Chris hugged Josh with his free arm.

  
“I hope you are happy Sam. _This_ is your fault.” Josh said, but his comment was belittled by his wide smile. “Your cheesiness fueled Chris’ overly cute and sentimental persona.”

  
“Sorry for being a momma bear.” Chris said, knowing fully well he sometimes was overprotective of his friends, especially towards Josh.

  
“Are you kidding? We have grumpy mother Sam and loving mother Chris. You two are a great team.” Josh teased. Sam tightened his arms around Josh, making him gasp in surprise. “But, joking aside... _thanks_ , guys.” Josh muttered, closing his eyes and enjoying the hug.

  
  


After the embrace died out, Sam said, “I’m gonna go take a bath, okay? Have fun while I’m gone.”

  
“ _Fun_ as in a threeway or, like, getting wasted, Sammy? Because, just so you know, I’m down for either.” Josh said in what might have sounded seductive if said by anyone else. 

  
“I don’t care.” Sam said, standing up. “You can go wild for all I care.” Sam walked up the stairs.

* * *

  
Mike tossed the keys Josh had given them up into the air.

“Don’t do that, you are going to lose them, Mike.”

  
“Excuse me? I would _never_.” He said, but stopped playing altogether. He sighed. “I just can’t believe we were exiled. I mean, we were there for ten minutes at the most.”

  
“Sex-iled.” Jess tried to cheer him up, and Mike smiled.

  
“Sure, works for me.”

  
“How far is this _cabin_ anyway?”

  
“According to Josh, it is just a short walk away from here. Once we fire up the generator, getting to the cabin will be a piece of cake.” He explained. “And it’s supposed to be the coziest, most romantic, love den we will ever lay our eyes upon.”

  
“Sounds promising.” Jess smiled. “If you play your cards right, you might even get lucky.”

Mike cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “I _do_ feel pretty lucky.” He took Jessica’s hand, and they started making their way through the snow.

  
“Hey, do you ever get the feeling, like, maybe Josh is flirting with Chris?” Jessica asked.

  
“What?” Mike looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “No. But I do think Josh sometimes flirts with you.”

  
“No way! That’s crazy!” Jessica laughed. “Trust me, I’m more like his little sister.” She painfully remembered Hannah and Beth. “That sounds wrong, you know, uh, given the circumstances, but –”

  
“Don’t worry, Jess, I know what you meant.” He rubbed her back in soothing circles.

  
“Thanks, love.” She smiled and shivered when the cold wind hit her face. “Okay. Let's go, it is freezing out here.”

  
“Now that's something I can help you with.” Jessica laughed wholeheartedly and started walking a bit faster. Mike caught up to her immediately.

* * *

  
“Emily's as dumb as she looks if she thinks she can cut in on what we got going on. Maybe if we're lucky she'll try and follow us out here and get eaten by a bear.” Jessica blurted out, unable to keep holding her tongue back.

She was pissed. She had been excited about seeing her friends again. Why had Emily had to ruin everyone’s fun?

They were supposed to be drinking and partying at the lodge. _Together._ Not making the walk of shame to an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere.

  
Hell, Emily used to be her best friend. They were supposed to be there for one another even if she was now dating her ex-boyfriend.

She didn’t steal Mike away; she had just seized the opportunity _after_ their breakup.

  
“I think you bring out the worst in her.”

  
“And what’s that?”

  
“Epic jealousy.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Seriously, though, she may be a handful, but don’t hold it against her. She's not good at handling her emotions.”

  
“Um, hello? Not my problem, Mike. And not yours, either.”

  
“Yeah, I guess you are right.” Mike agreed after a moment of thinking. He tried to open the gate, but it was locked. “ _Right_ , the generator.”

Starting up the generator was fairly easy and, soon, the lights outside turned on.

  
“Woo! You are a wizard!” Jessica exclaimed, and Mike opened the gate for her.

  
“After you, m’lady.”

They walked for a while and even crossed a small, rustic-looking bridge.

Mike smiled; every other time, they had ended up so drunk in the lodge, they never got the chance to explore around the mountain.

It was a nice, almost relaxing, change. 

  
  


Jessica stopped and covered her mouth with both her hands – her eyes were wide-open.

  
“Police tape.” She muttered. “You'd think they'd clean it up…”

  
“Well, they never closed the investigation.” Mike explained. “It's all such a blur. I can barely even remember what happened.”

  
“We played a stupid half-baked prank that probably got Hannah and Beth killed.” Her voice sounded croaky. Her eyes watered at the guilt and shame she felt.

  
“Hey, I mean, it wasn’t our fault they ran into the woods.”

  
“Was it not, Mike?” She asked brusquely. Mike kept quiet, he knew as well as Jessica that they were – _at least_ – a little guilty. 

They heard a scream in the distance.

  
“Did you hear that?” Jessica stepped closer to her boyfriend.

  
“I heard something. Yeah… Let’s just get to the cabin, ok?”

* * *

  
They walked a few more steps – until they found a fallen tree blocking their path.

  
“Damn. I don't think we can get up to the cabin with the path blocked like this –”

  
“Then, we improvise. No way am I going back to the lodge to drink hot chocolate with Emily.” She deadpanned. “We will find another way around.”

To their right, they found a little mine entrance.

  
“See? I told you we would –Ahhh!” A barrier broke under Jess’ hands and she fell down.

  
“Jess! Fuck! Are you okay?”

  
“Yeah, I'm okay.” She answered.

  
“Holy crap, you scared the heck out of me.”

  
“Well, I can assure you that was no Disneyland ride.” She sounded a little out of breath. “But, as far as I can tell, I still have all seven of my limbs.”

  
“Can you get out?”

  
“Don’t think so. I can hardly see anything down here.”

  
“Alright, comin' after you, just stay put!” He jumped down, almost losing his balance. He looked around and saw an old cart blocking the tunnel. “Hey, gorgeous, help me move this cart. I think that’s our way out.” Michael and Jess pushed the cart.

  
“When I imagined us grunting together...” Jessica said, laughing. “This is not what I imagined.”

Michael and Jess shimmed through the gap that had opened.

  
Jess turned on a flashlight and handed it to Mike in time to see another cart rolling towards them.

“Ahh!” Jess screamed. Mike was hit by the cart and fell face down to the ground.

  
“Oh my God, Mike, are you okay?”

  
“Yeah, I'm fine.” He stood up. “And I still got my teeth. That's a plus.”

“This place is creepy as fuck.” Jessica cried out. The walls of the cave were heavily adorned with animal skulls and scribbles. 

  
“It looks… almost historical.” Mike added, almost in awe. “It's gotta be Native American, right?”

  
“I don’t know, Mike! I think we should just, you know, get out of here before this place kills us.” Jessica stated nervously. Mike nodded solemnly and hurried out of there.

* * *

  
“Oh, a telescope!” Jess looked into the telescope. “Gonna look at the trees and the clouds and the _unreachable_ cabin – Uh, whoa.” Jess stepped back from the telescope.

  
“Y'alright?”

  
“I just saw someone at the cabin.”

  
“Huh? Let me see.” Mike looked into the telescope, but he couldn’t see anyone. “Sampling the ol' egg nog again babe? It's just us up here, babe.”

  
“Ah, maybe.”

“But, Jess, just in case, stay close by, okay?”

  
“Yeah, thanks.” She smiled at Mike, grateful for having him by her side. “Hey, random question: if we find a bear, do you think I can hug it?”

  
“We have already talked about this, Jess. You are _not_ hugging a bear.” He smiled amused by his girlfriends’ antics.

  
  


* * *

  
When Josh told them how to get to the cabin, he had made it sound as if it were close. But it was not.

They walked down what must have been their fifth or sixth flight of stairs when a bird jumped out at Mike.

  
“Mother of – !

  
“Watch out, bird-brain!” Jessica laughed at his _very_ manly scream.

Because it _had been_ manly.

There was _nothing_ unmanly about a scream.  
  


“I was just...” What was he supposed to say? That he was just practicing how to scream if they actually found a bear? “I was just answering its mating call.”

  
Jessica’s brow rose. “Wow, you're easy.” She said, giving him a break.

  
“Yeah. Got a lot of love to give, you know?” Jessica chuckled, and Mike blushed slightly. “ _Fine_ , I was scared.”

  
“I know. For the record, Mikey, don’t worry, I’ll always protect you.” She pinched his cheek and walked away.

  
  


* * *

  
Finally, they found a sign that indicated the cabin’s proximity. However, there was another tree blocking their way.

“Seriously, another tree?” Mike complained. There was no way they could find another mine entrance to walk around that tree. “Goddamnit Josh, you could have _at least_ cleared out the path before sending us up here!”

  
“Really?”

  
“What?”

  
“I don’t think Josh planned any of these. We were going to stay at the lodge, and that path had no fallen trees. The only reason why we’re here is your ex-girlfriend’s inability to behave like a decent human being.”

  
“Still, how are we going to get to the other side?”

  
“Stand back, Debbie Downer.” Jess climbed on top of the tree trunk.

“Show off!” Mike shouted from below.

  
“Hey, Mike, you got something on your face!” Mike touched his face.

  
“What? I don’t...” In that moment, Jess threw a snowball at him, hitting him square in the face. 

  
“Trust me, you _do_.”

“Well, if that’s how it's gonna be…” Mike made a snowball of his own, but, when he looked back up, Jessica was no longer there. “Jess?”

He heard something that froze his blood: Jessica's scream far up ahead.

  
“Jess?” He could feel his heart pounding as the seconds passed and a dreadful silence settled. “Jessica!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Josh Washington is (almost) a Good Host

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next to Hannah’s bed, on the nightstand, was an old picture Sam hadn’t seen in ages. 
> 
> In the picture were Sam and Beth, on their sophomore year, wearing matching shirts. Closer to the lens of the camera were Hannah and Josh, sporting fake grimaces and pointing at both girls. 
> 
> Josh, who had taken the photo, later claimed that he had known Sam and Beth were meant to be for that long.

Sam bent over and opened the hot-water tap of the bath. She grumbled when it became clear there was no hot water. 

“Unbelievable” she muttered. It was one thing to be stuck outside the lodge because of some frozen locks, but it was a completely different thing to be stuck _inside_ the lodge with only freezing cold water.

  
“Josh!” She called out, almost in a sisterly manner. He knew how much Sam valued having a hot bath after a long day of exercising – which was the case as for that day.

“Whaaaaat?” Josh answered from the first floor. “Do you need me to soap your back?” Sam rolled her eyes at that: they were the gayest pair of friends and, quite honestly, the mental image of Josh soaping her back was as appealing as imagining your grandma being soaped. 

“Don’t be an idiot, Josh.” There wasn't any real malice in her voice. She headed outside the bathroom and said, “I hope you know how to hook up the hot water; otherwise I won’t take a bath, and we will have a _real_ problem.” She heard Chris snickering. 

  
“Sure, but I’ll need your help.”

  
  


“Coming!” However, before going downstairs, she turned left instinctively and stopped. There in front of her was Hannah’s room.

The door was closed, unperturbed. 

Should she…?  
  


Of course she _shouldn’t_ , but she was going to, anyway. Sam couldn’t stop herself.

  
  


She opened the door slowly, afraid of revisiting a place that held some of her greatest memories, and took a tentative step inside.

Then another.

Sam took a deep breath and walked all the way up to Hannah’s bed with more confidence.

The room was messy,but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. Sam knew that was simply the aftermath of splitting rooms with Beth.

While Beth was methodical and well-organized, Hannah had a more… creative, free soul.

Next to Hannah’s bed, on the nightstand, was an old picture Sam hadn’t seen in ages.

  
In the picture were Sam and Beth, on their sophomore year, wearing matching shirts. Closer to the lens of the camera were Hannah and Josh, sporting fake grimaces and pointing at both girls.

Josh, who had taken the photo, later claimed he had known Sam and Beth were meant to be for _that_ long.

Under the photo’s frame was a smaller, printed picture of Mike with a red heart drawn over his face.

“Gee, Hannah...” Sam smiled sadly. “I wish you had sooner learnt he wasn’t worth all the fuss.” Then, she opened a music box gifted from Josh to Hannah.

The music box was simple; round, black and wooden, with golden stars painted on the inside. When opened, a small ballerina slowly spun to an acoustic version of _Love of my Life_.  
  


That was a special song for them: after a heartbreak, the Washingtons would always call Sam and Chris over, eat pizza and get drunk.

Well, Josh would get drunk for them all, while Hannah and Chris, a little tipsy, would boisterously sing _Love of my Life_ for hours on repeat. Sam wouldn’t drink, and Beth was a sleepy drunk.

The music box had been a nice gift, but that wasn’t weird from Josh, who always tried to go above and beyond for his friends.

Next to Hannah’s bookshelf was a photo collage. Most of the photos had Sam in them, and some others were just photos of Mike.

There was a photo Sam also had hanging form _her_ bedroom wall: Sam and Hannah, who were around six or seven, wearing cowboy hats and holding hobbyhorses. Back then, the girls’ biggest wish was to move to Texas or New Mexico and own a barn – not understanding the difference between being a cowboy and owning a barn full of livestock.

That had been an interesting phase of their lives.

  
  


“God, Han, I miss you.” Tears covered her eyes and her voice broke a little. “I _need_ my best friend.” 

* * *

“Sure, but I’ll need your help.”

  
  


“Coming!” From somewhere on the second floor came Sam’s answer. However, minutes passed, and the girl was still nowhere to be seen.

  
  


“What's taking her so long?” Chris asked worriedly. “Maybe the _baby_ wolverine has come back…”

“I’ll go look for her.” Josh said, walking to the stairs. “Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone.” Ashley blushed a little, and Chris coughed.

When Josh reached the second floor, he immediately knew where Sam was; Hannah’s bedroom door was open.

God, why hadn't he sent Chris or Ashley to get Sam?  
  


He hadn’t been to his sisters’ rooms in a year – not even at their house back in the city. He was _not_ ready.

Despite that, he made his way inside the room and walked directly to Sam. Trying to avoid looking at the room for too long, settling his eyes on his friend only.

  
  


“Sammy?” He called. The girl looked at him with tears trailing down her cheeks.

“Josh?” She muttered. Sam seemed painfully lost in that moment.

“What are you looking at?” Josh asked softly. He could hear _Love of my Life_ playing in the background – his heart sank.

“Oh, right. Here.” She handed him an old notebook. It was Hannah’s diary; the last entry read:

> Woohoo!! PARTY TIME tomorrow! Everyone being here together on the mountain is gonna be SO AWESOME! cozy fires and hot tubs and OMG Mike! I am so psyched to spend some time with him! Totally got to stop obsessing but I can't help it - and don't want to.

  
  


“Oh.” Josh cooed, sitting next to her.

Then, Sam’s eyes widened and she squared her shoulders, aware of who she was talking to. Regret shadowed her face, but she quickly covered it with a veil of confidence and a bright smile.

“Sorry, I must have lost track of time.”

“Yeah, Chris was already panicking…” Josh’s answered, but his eyes were seeing ghosts from the past. 

  
  


Sam stood and walked to the door. “Hey, you coming? I still need the hot water.” She smiled and waited for Josh, who was still sitting on the bed.

Josh carefully placed the diary on the bed and stood.

  
  


“Yeah, let’s go.”

* * *

On the first floor, Chris was telling Ashley about a new game he had been playing.

“So let me get this straight,” Ashley said, sounding confused. “You are stuck in an asylum and have to deal with violent patients? But you can’t defend yourself? That sounds crazy!”

  
  


“Yeah! But it makes sense, you know? If I had to deal with I psychopath in real life, I wouldn’t know what to do. Not a single clue. And that’s kind of what happens to Miles, being a journalist and everything.”

  
  


“So how scary is it?”

  
  


“Oh, _very_ scary!” Chris’ eyes glimmered. “It took me almost a year to finish it. I couldn’t make myself leave the safety of the lockers. I’m sure Josh would love it, though.”

  
  


“What would I love?” Josh asked.

  
  


“A game from a couple of years ago.” Chris explained, “Outlast. It’s a survival horror game.”

  
  


“Sounds dope.” Josh looked at how close Ashley and Chris were sitting and felt sick to his stomach, even though he knew he was being ridiculous, and said, “You know what? I got an idea for you two.”

  
  


“What?” Ashley asked.

  
  


“Okay, so I am pretty sure that somewhere in this place we have a spirit board…”

  
  


“A _what_?” Ashley’s eyes went as round as plates.

  
  


“Wow, you still have that old thing?” Chris sounded genuinely surprised – after all, he had bought that Ouija board for Josh.

  
  


“Of course, Cochise! There’s nothing better than a Ouija board from a flea market! You can never be completely sure of its backstory. The possibilities are endless.”

  
  


“Wait are you saying we should have a _seance_?” The redheaded whispered that last part, both amused and scared of the idea.

  
  


“Those things are a joke, Ash.” Chris patted her shoulder affectionately. “They don't do shit.”

  
  


“Bro, I swear it actually worked last time I played with… well, with Hannah and Beth.”

  
  


“Hey, Josh, I would really like to take a bath _today_ , you know?” Sam said, almost pouting. Not that she wasn’t interested in spending some time with her friends, but she wanted nothing to do with contacting the death – real or not – and a bath was the best excuse to get away for a while.

  
  


“Yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler. It's in the basement.” He looked at Chris and smiled, trying to be a good friend who was actually able to help him get the girl of his dreams. But the smile didn’t last long – the voices were growing louder. “You guys see if you can find the spirit board, okay?”

  
  


“That sounds great!” Ashley exclaimed, smiling widely. In that moment, the selfish side of Josh wished Ashley were more unpleasant. As it was, it was very difficult not to like her. “Chris, let's go find it! It'll be like a scavenger hunt!”

  
  


“Ummm... Are you sure about this, Josh?” He asked. Josh smiled encouragingly and nodded, trying to convince his best friend. He _had_ to convince Chris. “Okay, guess so.”

  
  


“Rad. You're not going to regret it.”

Ashley and Chris left.

“To the basement?” He asked Sam, who nodded and walked down the stairs. Josh followed her.

* * *

“Hey. You notice how I gave Chris and Ash a mission together?” He asked, trying to sound as cheerful as Ashley had looked walking next to Chris. “Yeah I was thinking they could use some _alone time_.”

  
  


“Yeah, they are very sweet together.” She carefully said. “But are you okay with it?”

  
  


“Why wouldn’t I be?” Josh retorted. When one of Sam’s brow shot upwards, he exhaled, giving up. “You know I’ll never be okay with it, but there’s not much I can do. And I really want Chris to be happy.”

  
  


“God, you are such a sap.” She looked at her friend, who was clearly hurting but tried his best to hide it, and felt sorry for him. “Maybe if you asked –”

  
  


“Not gonna happen.”

  
  


“So you are just gonna wait for Chris to ask Ashley out?” 

  
  


“That’s as unlikely to happen.” Josh grunted. “Chris won't ask her out unless someone's holding a gun to his head.”

  
  


“Hmmm.”

  
  


“I swear they just need, like, something to bond over. Some sort of traumatic event to send them into each other's arms.”

  
  


“You have watched way too many horror movies, Josh.” Sam almost laughed. “That’s not how relationships work.”

  
  


“Well, Hollywood begs to differ.” He grabbed a flashlight from a drawer and opened the door leading to the basement for Sam. “You know, Sam...”

  
  


“Yes, Josh?”

  
  


“It really means a lot to me that everyone came back this year and, you know, that you came.” He said without meeting her gaze. “I know this is also hard for you.”

  
  


“Josh, we're here for you. Whatever you need. Whenever.” She squeezed his hand. “We're all going to make it through this together.”

  
  


“I know. I just – I just can’t look at them, you know, Mike, Em, Jess, without seeing, hearing Hannah and Beth.” He admitted. “I just wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been as drunk as a skunk.”

  
  


“Josh, it wasn’t your fault.” Sam deadpanned, unwilling to accept any of Josh’s retorts. “And, I know it’s not the best advice, but don’t hold it against everyone else either. They made a mistake – a really big, horrible one –, but they didn’t mean to fuck thing up so much. Those pranks have always been an inherent part of our friendship.”

  
  


“Yeah.” Josh said. “I really do want us to have a good time, you know.”

  
  


“And we will, Josh.”

They walked down the stairs to the basement. “Watch your step,” Josh reminded her out of habit.

  
  


“Don’t worry, I remember.”

Josh opened the boiler cabinet.

  
“Sorry for delaying your so-important bath, Sammy.”

  
  


“Just get me some hot water and I'll be super fine.” She said. “Besides, you’re doing all the hard work.”

  
  


“I mean, I wouldn't want you coming down here on your own, you know?”

  
  


“Yeah, it's definitely creepy down here.”

  
  


“Yep. Not a place to be on your own.”

Sam looked down and saw a baseball bat.

“What's this doing here?” Sam asked incredulously. “Bet it’s pretty rough playing baseball out in all that snow.”

  
“It wasn't for the winter, silly. We'd come up in the summer and have the best time. The whole family; mom, dad, my sisters, even Chris. It was some serious competition out there in the big lawn.” He retold, smiling at the memories. “Of course, that was before my parents got too busy to hang out with us...” Josh set the baseball bat on the ground.

“Anyway, I'm supposed to be fixing this old guy, right?” Josh handed Sam the flashlight. “Here, hold this so I can see what I'm doing.”

Sam stood as still as possible.

  
  


“Nice one, Sammy!” He complimented. “Okay, first things first: we gotta increase the water pressure before we get the boiler fired up.”

  
  


“Sounds kinda complicated.”

  
  


“It’s not, just press the button when the light comes on.”

  
  


“Okay, okay, okay. I can do that.” Sam frowned, concentrating on the task at hand. “Whoa!”

  
  


“Alright! Five, girl!” They high-fived, smiling.

As Josh closed the boiler cabinet, another sound, loud and menacing, got Sam’s attention.

  
  


“What the hell was that?”

  
  


“Could’ve been a lot of things...” Josh said, approaching Sam from behind and touching her shoulder feather-like. “And none of them nice.” 

  
  


“Hey, quit it!”

  
  


“I'm just _Joshing_ you, Sammy.”

  
  


“Ha, ha, not funny.”

  
  


“Aw, you were really freaked out.” Josh’s voice was so affectionate Sam couldn’t get angry. Still, she crossed her arms and faked a grimace of dislike.

  
  


“I was not scared.”

  
  


“You _so_ were:”

  
  


“Was not!”

  
  


“So what? You just jumped because you wanted to squeeze in some aerobics?”

  
  


“Well – you were totally freaked out too!”

  
  


“What? No!” Josh made a face of incredulity, and they both laughed.

  
  


“You were as white as a sheet!” Sam pointed at him with an accusatory finger, but the accusation fell flat due to her cackles.

  
  


“Honey, it takes a lot more to freak me out, alright?” Josh smiled devilishly. “Plus, I’ve been down here enough times to know this place makes all kinds of sounds.”

The sound continued.

  
  


“Okay, so you heard that too, right?!

  
  


“How could I not?”

  
  


“Maybe we should check it out?”

  
  


“Why?”

  
  


“I dunno, what if it's a pipe that's about to burst or some problem with the furnace?”

  
  


“Unlikely, Sammy.”

  
  


“If I were you, I wouldn't want this place to burn down on my watch, Josh.”

  
  


“It's probably nothing.”

  
  


“Still, I’ll check it out.” Sam walked to where the noise was coming from. A man in a mask appeared in front of her.

Sam screamed, but didn’t let fear paralyze her: she turned around and ran through the hallway, bringing down a wood panel in front of the masked man.  
  


The pursuer tripped and grunted.

Sam took Josh, who was distracted, by the arm and led him up the stairs.

  
  


“Whoa! Sam! What’s wrong?” He asked, running alongside her.

  
  


“Someone!” That was as much of an explanation as she offered. Sam tried to open the door, only to find it locked. “Oh, come on! Why are these doors locked?!”

  
  


“To keep out strangers!” Josh shouted with panic. He twisted the knob, but it was useless. If running wasn’t an option, there was only one thing he could do: Josh pushed Sam behind him and faced the man, stretching his arms protectively

  
  


“Heeeey...” The masked man said in a flirty way. 

Josh lowered his arms slowly. He would recognize that voice anywhere – those long Os, the way some letters would run into one another and that adorable lisp that would only show if the man in question was feeling tired…

  
  


“Chris?” He asked. _Yeah_ , he had spent years memorizing that voice.

  
  


“What the hell?!” Sam shouted, stepping closer to Chris.

  
  


The masked man took off his hood and said, “Boom! You just got monked!” Josh couldn’t stop the smile that parted his mouth and reached his eyes. Chris’ face lit up.

  
  


“What!?” However, Sam sounded very, very angry. _Scarily_ angry.

  
  


“Nice one, Cochise.” Josh complimented. “That was good.”

  
  


“What – Why would you do that?”

  
  


“There's all this cool old movie stuff down here. What? Was I not supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?” Chris said and, in that moment, seeing Sam’s murderous eyes, Josh feared for his well-being.

  
  


“Are you serious?” Sam turned to Josh, “Were you in on this, you sack of a man?”

  
  


“Nope.” Josh hurriedly said, ensuring his own safety. Then, he tried to help Chris out, “But I wish I was! That was _too_ good!” Chris and Josh high-fived.

Sam and Chris got back to the main lodge, while Josh locked the door. He then followed.

* * *

“Fine. There’s a slim possibility that your _dumb little prank_ may have had a slight whiff of humor to it.” Sam admitted.

  
  


“Jokemaster!”

  
  


“I said nothing about jokes. I said your _prank_ , which was dumb –”

  
  


“Holy crap, Sammy, you got scared _twice_ today.” Josh interrupted, laughing. “You totally pissed yourself!”

  
  


“I can’t believe I tried to save you, a-hole.” Sam told Josh. “Next time someone tries to kill us, consider yourself dead.”

  
  


“Will do, Sammy”

“What in god's name are you wearing?” Ashley chimed in, walking closer to Chris.

  
  


“I found my true calling.” Chris replied and moved his hand down and across Ashley, making the shape of a cross.

  
  


“Please, tell me you're going to take a vow of silence.” Ashley said, and Chris pretended to speak inaudibly.

  
  


“Okay. Did you at least find the thingy?”

  
  


Chris took the Ouija board out of his costume. “Voilà! Here's our one way ticket to the spirit realm!”

“You know what?” Sam spoke up. “I've just been through enough spooking for one night, okay? The only thing I see in my crystal ball is a hot bath.”

  
  


“Sure you don’t want some help with that?” Josh asked. He had been expecting Sammy to play with them. Despite everything he had planned for the night, he was most desperate not to deal with Chris and Ashley alone.

  
  


“Have fun, guys!” Sam said already climbing up the stairs. “Oh, but watch out for Josh. He's a schemer!”

* * *

Emily and Matt were walking in silence, with no idea of what to say next.

Matt looked at his girlfriend, who was still wearing his jacket, and counted to ten before speaking. 

  
  


“Feeling a little better now?” He asked.

  
  


“Say what?” Emily had expected Matt to be the one to break their silence, but she hadn’t expected that question. Nor had she expected Matt to talk in such a sweet, worried way.

  
  


“Well, that was a nasty fight...”

  
  


“The further we get from Jessica the better I’ll feel.” Emily stubbornly said.

  
  


“I just want you to relax, you know? Have a good time.” Matt admitted. Emily felt a surge of affection for him.

  
  


“I'll relax when everyone else relaxes, but thanks for trying.”

“So…” Matt decided to ask what had been eating him up since they first talked to Mike, “What'd you ever see in Mike, anyways?”

  
  


“Oh, Matt...”

  
  


“Seriously, he's a dick. He's always been a dick.” Matt said with dislike for the other boy. “And he’s still into you. It's obvious.”

  
  


“Mike is really not that bad.” She admitted. “Sure, he can be a dick, but he’s also a very good friend. Don’t forget he’s been your friend for longer than me,” Emily pointed out. Matt made a face that clearly showed how jealous he was feeling in that moment. “Seriously, stop worrying about Mike. You're the one that I want: a strong, intelligent, handsome man.”

  
  


“Okay.” Matt smiled a little, feeling much better. “I think we should start the weekend over. Clean slate.”

  
  


“Oh?”

  
  


“Yeah,” Matt stopped and held her shoulders with both hands. “No arguing, no Mike, no Jess. Just you and me, enjoying ourselves.”

  
  


“Sure, I’m game.” Emily said, straying to a different path. “Matt...?”

  
  


“Yeah?”

Emily took a deep breath, knowing his next words would hurt her pride, but saying them anyways, “Thanks for helping me find my bag... I know I can be a little high maintenance –”

  
  


“Hey, it's no prob, babe.” Matt scratched the back of his head awkwardly, not used to that softer side of Emily. “But you gotta remember that there's more to this guy than just being a lean, mean, luggage lifting machine.”

  
  


“You gonna back that up?” 

  
  


“All day.” Both laughed.

  
  


“What?”

  
  


“ _All day_.” 

  
  


“Wait. What does that mean?”

  
  


“Like, all day long. I was being... sexy.”

  
  


“God, you’re such a dork.” She grinned, and that smile was full of mischievous promises. “Just wait until we get back to the lodge, and I'll show you what sexy really is.”

  
  


“Cool.” He was so smitten by her in that moment… Then, “Wait. Who is a better kisser? Mike or me?”

  
  


“Just drop it, Matt.” She laughed some more, and her eyes twinkled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	6. Eight Hours Until Dawn - Isolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If you were faking it, Ash, you did one hell of a job.” Chris accused, almost with venom. 
> 
> “I wasn't faking anything, Chris!” She answered quickly. “I swear!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ♥
> 
> I'm not dead and I haven't abandoned this fic.  
> But I've been way to busy with college. 
> 
> Thanks for the patience.

Josh lit some candles, barely illuminating the room, but successfully creating a sense of mystery around them. Ashley placed a small table next to the living room window for extra illumination and arranged the Ouija board on it.

  
Chris, who was not helping with the preparations, said, “So it says here that, to communicate with the spirit world, you must free your mind of all preconceptions, drop all inhibitions, and generally give yourself over entirely to the will of others, sublimating your every desire to the whims of the Spirit-master, which is me –”

  
“It does not say that.” Ashley accused, rolling her eyes with affection.

  
Chris continued, ignoring Ashley, “...and all present will remove their garments at my sole discretion.”

  
“Chris, come on, this is serious, man.” Josh said, turning his head. But Ashley was sure she saw him slightly blushing.

  
“Oh, I'm _deadly_ serious.”

  
“God, Chris, why are you _pun_ -ishing us?” Josh replied. Chris giggled, delighted at his friend’s pun.

  
“Shush it, guys.” Ashley sat down and patted the chair next to hers. “Let's try this.”

“Yes, please.” Josh sat to her right and – because of how small the table was – ended up facing Chris, knees bumping. The boy smiled at him, and Josh ducked his head.

All three placed their fingers on the planchette.

  
  
“Okay then,” Josh took a deep breath. “Let's see what happens.”

  
“Ash, since Josh and I have been in the _biz_ for quite some time and you're a recent convert, why aren’t you our medium for today?” Chris asked, smiling one of his charming smiles. A smile that had effect on both Ashley and Josh.

  
“Um…” Ashley looked at Josh, silently asking for help, but he didn’t speak up. “I don’t want to sound like a scaredy-cat, guys, but what if something _does_ happen? Like, what if we communicate with a real ghost?”

  
“Don’t worry, Ash. I already told you, this is just a toy.” Chris sounded overly cocky for someone who had almost pissed his pants at the sight of a wolverine. “And, even if that were the case, I know some sweet exorcism prayers in Latin.”

  
“In Latin?” Josh asked. “No way.”

  
“Yes way!” Chris smiled. “Listen to this: Señor Jesucristo, que diste a tus santos Apóstoles la potestad de someter a los demonios en tu nombre y de aplastar todo poder del enemigo; Dios santo –”

  
“Ok, I’m gonna stop you right there, Cochise.” Josh interrupted, laughing good-heartedly. “That is not Latin, that’s Spanish.”

  
“What!? It can’t be!” Chris frowned, displeased. “That was the prayer the nuns used in the last movie we watched, Josh!”

  
“Yeah, but that movie was utter crap.” He simply said. “A Latin exorcism is more like: in nomine patris, et filii et spiritus sancti. exsurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici eius. Amen.”

  
“Oh, so you do know Latin?” Chris raised an eyebrow. “Anything else you want to share with the class?”

  
“What? No, I just like horror movies, man.” Josh explained. “But let me congratulate you. Your Spanish was almost perfect. Mrs. García would be very proud.”

  
“Ugh, shut up. I wanted to impress you next time we watched a movie. Turns out I just learnt how to order some food at Chipotle.”

  
“Come on, Cochise.” Josh said a little flustered. Was Chris really trying to impress him? “We don’t need any prayer. Like you said, the board’s just a toy, right?” Chris smiled at him.

“Hey, guys, are we going to do this or not?” Ashley chimed in.

  
“The board is yours, Ash.”

She took a deep breath and spoke loudly, “Is anyone there? Will you reveal yourself to us if you're there?”

  
Nothing happened.

  
Then, the planchette started moving.

“Wait a minute –” Chris’ voice sounded almost panicked.

  
“Did you do that?” Josh asked Ashley.

  
“I didn't do anything!”

  
“It's still moving! What's it spelling?” Chris asked.

  
“Hold on.”

  
“How's this happening?” Josh looked at both his friends, nervousness coating his words.

  
“Are you moving it, Ash?”

  
“I swear I’m not doing anything, Chris.” Ashley sounded desperate. Chris frowned. “Oh God… It spelled _Help_.”

  
“But how are we supposed to help?” Chris looked at Josh, wishing his friend would come up with something. This was, after all, Josh’s venue.

  
“Guys. What is happening?” Josh asked, sounding as lost as his friends.

“Ok, ok, ok. Ok.” Chris nervously said, and then instructed, “First, we need to know who we are talking to if we want to help them, right? Ashley, ask away.”

  
“Sure… Who are you?” Ashley asked, unsure of where to look at. “We can't help you if we don't know who you are. Can you tell us who you are?”

  
“Guys! It’s moving again!” Chris screamed.

  
“Okay. S.”  
  


> I...
> 
> S...
> 
> T...
> 
> E...
> 
> R...  
>   
> 

“ _Sister_.” Chris read aloud and immediately met Josh’s eyes. His friend looked pale. Almost sick. Chris wanted to stop the stupid game and hug Josh, but he knew the action would be unwelcomed.

  
“Whose sister?” Josh asked.

  
“Come on, Joshie, this can’t be real.” Chris tried to reason.

  
“Shut up, Chris!” He turned to Ashley, “Ask it whose sister.”

  
“Josh.” She looked at him with pity in her eyes. Josh hated her in that moment. “It's gotta be...”

  
“Yeah? Ok. Well, which sister is it then?”

  
“Ashley, ask who it is.” Chris practically begged her, desperate to put an end to the whole thing.

Ashley stopped to remember the twins. If one of them was strong enough to resurface from the land of the death, it had to be…

  
“Beth? Is that you?” The planchette moved painfully slowly and stopped over the Yes. Ashley’s eyes filled with tears. Her hand trembled.

  
“This is messed up.” Chris felt nauseous.

  
“Josh, are you –”

  
“I'm fine.” Josh interrupted her midsentence.

  
“Are you sure? We can stop –”

  
“No.”

  
“Bro, really, it's cool if –”

  
“Chris, I want to hear what it – she – says.”

“I don't know where to start…” Ashley said.

  
“Think about it, Ash. If this is actually Beth we can find out what happened that night.”

  
“Okay.” She closed her eyes, thinking. Wait, it was actually simple.

She didn’t have to ask anything overly complicated; Beth knew them.

  
“Beth, we want to know what happened to you that night. Can you tell us?”

  
“And…” Chris spoke up, surprising even himself. “Know that we're really sorry, Beth. For everything.”

The planchette moved again, quickly.  
  


> H…
> 
> A…
> 
> N…
> 
> N…

  
“It's spelling _Hannah_.” Chris said.

  
“Wait, it's still going.” Ashley told him. “K… I… L… L… Oh my god.” She covered her mouth with both hands.

  
“ _Killed_? Guys, what's she talking about?” Josh asked –demanded– them. There was an edge to his voice that Chris did not like.

“I don't know if I can keep doing this.” Ashley blurted. She was sweating, but felt colder than she had felt waiting outside the lodge.

  
“We have to, Ash.”

  
“Josh is right, Ash. Just try to breath.” Chris said. “It's saying that someone killed Hannah. This could be important.”

  
“How can you be so sure!?” She sounded hysterical.

  
“Just ask her something else!” Chris shouted, losing control. Ashley stopped.

  
“Alright. Okay.” She sounded almost emotionless. “Who killed Hannah? Who was it?”  
  


> L…
> 
> I…
> 
> B…

  
“ _Library_! Maybe there's something in the library, Josh!” Chris said, connecting the dots. “P. R. O. O – _Proof_! Bingo!”

Ashley clasped her hands.

In that moment, the spirit board shook and the planchette flew off the table.  
The three friends jumped back.  
  


“Watch out!” Josh screamed.

  
“Whoa!”

  
“Holy shit, Chris.” Ashley cried out, reaching for him.

  
Josh stood up. His expression was dark, clouded with raw emotion. “This is bullshit. This isn't real –”

  
“Josh, I don't know what's going on, but…” Ashley said.

  
“Listen, I don't know if you think messing with me is somehow going to help me with – with my grief or whatever, but this is not cool, guys.” He sounded so, so sad that guilt washed over Chris.

  
“Josh, no! You wanted to use the spirit board!”

  
“Hey, calm down, guys!” Chris tried to reason with his friends, “Let’s not start blaming people here.”

  
“I don't need this right now, okay?!” Josh shouted over the tears that were now running down his face. “You guys are full of it!” He left, running upstairs.

  
“If you were faking it, Ash, you did one hell of a job.” Chris accused, almost with venom.

  
“I wasn't faking anything, Chris!” She answered quickly. “I swear!”

  
“Yeah, you’re right.” Chris felt his anger lessen; he was being irrational.

  
“I think we should do what it says and look in the library...” Ashley said, “Josh will be okay, right?”

Chris bit his lip. “Ah, I mean, he will – he will…” He remembered how worried Sam had been earlier that day.

He remembered how broken Josh had looked when the planchette spelled his sister’s name…

  
“Wait for me, okay? I won’t take long.” He smiled, trying to reassure her. “I just need to make sure Josh’s okay.”

* * *

Josh climbed up the stairs hurriedly. He couldn’t be there anymore.

  
His heart was racing, pounding.

  
The hall was spinning. He almost tripped, but kept running until he was safely inside his room, the door closed and locked.

  
It hurt.

It hurt so, so bad.

He knew his little seance was supposed to last longer. But it had been too much.

  
He had thought… He had thought he was ready to relive the memories. He should’ve been more than ready after a year of facing his sisters by himself.

But being back in the lodge with his friends, talking about Hannah and Beth, had proven to be more than he had expected.

His breathing was erratic. His eyes swelled up with tears.

  
In front of him, sitting on his bed, were Hannah and Beth. Josh sat on the floor, holding his legs close to his chest.

Hannah was humming Frère Jacques. Beth was calling out his name without stop.

Josh covered his ears, but he could still hear them.

  
He had no idea how much time passed before a soft knock on the door brought him back to reality.

  
“Josh?” He heard Chris’ voice, but did not answer. What was Chris doing there? He should be heading to the library with Ashley.

Chris tried to open the door, but found it locked. He knocked again and said, “Come on, bro. Open up.”

More silence. Josh didn’t move.

Honestly, he was sure his legs would give out if he tried to stand.

  
“Fine, I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.” Chris twisted the knob and, at the same time, kicked the door. One swift, hard kick just in the middle.

The door opened.

  
“What? How did you do that?” Josh asked from where he was sitting.

  
“Oh, sweet Joshie. Don’t sound too surprised, I know tons of little secrets about this house.” Chris explained, “Of course I learnt how to force this door open. In case of an emergency.”

  
He was the emergency, Josh realized. He was sick, and Chris knew it as well as Sam or his sisters.  
How _pathetic_.

  
“Leave me alone, Cochise.”

  
“Don’t be like that, Josh. You are my best friend, and I’ve got your back.” He sat down next to Josh.

  
Josh lowered his gaze, avoiding Chris' worried face. 

  
“Hey, don’t do that.” He said, taking Josh’s hand. “Are you okay?”

  
“I’m fine, Chris. Really.” Josh said, but wiped his nose on his sleeve.

  
“Yeah, I know.” Chris squeezed his hand. “Honestly, I wasn’t even worried.” He said lightheartedly, “But I was too scared after what happened, and didn’t want you running around a haunted lodge by yourself.”

  
“Oh, my knight in shining armor.” Josh joked, silently thanking the skies for giving him such a good friend. He rested his head on Chris’ shoulder and closed his eyes. “How did you know I would come here?”

  
“Your room is awesome.” Chris explained, “I would’ve come here too.”

Hannah and Beth had gone silent. Josh was finally able to calm down.

“Wanna know a secret?” Chris asked.

  
“Sure.”

  
“This place has always felt like my second home.” Josh looked at their intertwined hands.

  
“Do tell.”

  
“You are a real dick, you know?” Chris said affectionately. “But I guess that’s part of your charm.” Josh turned his head and looked intently at his friend. This was his one chance.

He was going to tell Chris.

He had nothing left to lose.

  
After that night Chris was never going to trust him again, he was sure…

Hannah and Beth were trying to raise their voices again, but Josh was keeping them at bay.

He just needed to tell Chris, and then he would give himself entirely to his sisters.

Chris blushed a little under Josh’s intense gaze. The stretch of silence was close to becoming awkward.

  
“Chris, I –” Josh started, but a soft knock on the door made both boys jump. Josh closed his mouth tightly.

  
“Chris?” Ashley asked. “Did you find Josh? Is he okay?” She sounded truthfully worried. That was also Josh’s fault.

Hannah and Beth began mouthing words, but they were still unintelligible.

“Yeah, he is okay.” Chris let go of Josh’s hand, but did not move. “Hey, Josh, Ashley and I are going to check out the library. Wanna join us?”

  
“I’ll pass this time, Cochise.”

  
“Are you sure?” He asked, and then muttered, “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

  
“Don’t worry. After a quick bath and a 10-minute snooze, I will be just fine.”

  
“Fine.” He stood up, “See you later, alligator?” Josh almost groaned. He absolutely hated – and, quite frankly, loved – Chris’ childish outbursts.

  
“In a while, croco- _dork_.” Josh said with longing. Chris smiled and left.

Hannah and Beth sat next to Josh not comforting, but urging him to start the show.

Josh closed his eyes.

  
It was showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading ♥


	7. Bad Omens and Sinister Events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Chris, if this is your way of making me feel better, you're fired.”
> 
> “Well, no. I wouldn’t say I was trying to make you feel better. Just… keep your eyes peeled. If you see something, say something.”
> 
> The door near them banged, and they heard Josh scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final exams are killing me :) 
> 
> Also, Mike and Jess' relationship deserved so much more. And I'm going to give it to them.   
> You can try to take that headcanon from my cold, dead hands.

  
“Jess?” Mike called out. His blood froze when he heard a scream. “Jess!?” He repeated, feeling his sanity slowly creep out of his body.

Mike climbed over a tree trunk and slipped in the snow. “Oh, fuck nuggets!”

He _carefully_ jumped down and started walking, looking frantically for Jessica.

“Jess? Hon? Light of my life?” He knew he was being ridiculous. Jessica was probably fine. But, in that moment, his top priority was finding her, “You better be hiding or I swear I’ll kill you.”

Jess popped out and screamed at Mike, holding some antlers she had found near a tree. Mike let out a scream of terror.

“Oh my god!” Jessica bent over with laughter. “That was so funny! Who knew you could scream like a little girl, Mike.”

  
Mike looked at her for a long minute and then turned, pouting. “Nope, I’m not talking to you.”

  
“Oh, come on, babe.” Jessica tried to hug Mike, but almost impaled him with the antlers.

  
“Jessica! Put the antlers down before you kill someone!”

  
“But wouldn’t that be _poetic_?” She cooed. “Think about it: two lovers dead on a snowy mountain. The only thing in sight? Some bloody antlers.”  
  


“That would only be poetic _or romantic_ to Josh!” Mike stopped. “ _Oh my God_ , you are just like him.”

  
“What? No.” Jessica said, “I’m way cuter than Josh.”

  
“I hate you so much.”

  
“Aw, did I scare you?” She asked innocently.

  
“Yes! We are in the middle of the woods! It’s scary!”

  
“Ow, I’m _sowwy_.” She unlocked her phone, “Don’t worry, love, I won’t send the video to _anyone_.”

  
“You recorded that?”

  
“It depends…”

  
“On what?”

  
“On what you are willing to do for the video.”

  
“A challenge, ‘ey?” Mike smirked and held Jessica by the hips. “When we get to the cabin, I’ll show you just what I’m willing to do for that video.”

  
Jessica softly kissed Mike and said, “We’d better hurry then.”

Jessica had seen the “M” and “E” carved on the tree behind her. She was not stupid; she knew what it meant.

  
Had Mike and Em gone to the cabin, too? Was this how it always went down with Mike?

  
She didn’t bring it up. There was no point, really. She was Mike’s new girlfriend, and whatever happened in the past was not her business.

She just had to make sure to make _better and hotter_ memories with him.

“C’mon, Jess! Let’s go!”

* * *

“Check this out!” Mike said, excited. In the middle of nowhere, probably not even near the cabin, was a small shack.

  
“I swear this mountain keeps getting bigger and bigger.” Jess said mildly impressed. “How many shacks and cabins do the Washingtons need?”

  
“It’s kind of charming, really.” Mike joked. “If we don’t find the cabin, we can always come back here.”

  
“Yeah…” She placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “How about we make sure we find the cabin?” She said with finality. 

  
“Yeah.”

* * *

Jessica was almost crying with laughter. Mike was telling her an over-the-top story about his meetings as class president when they heard a terrifying noise.

“What was that?” Jessica asked, her laughter dying down immediately.

  
“I have no idea.” He took Jessica’s hand and pulled her closer. “And I don’t wanna know.”

  
  


A few steps ahead, they found a dying deer.

“Damn.”

  
“It’s horrible!” Jessica cried out, covering her eyes with both her hands.

  
“I don’t think it’s going to make it.”

  
  


Mike took a deep breath and walked closer to the deer. Moving as carefully as possible, he petted the animal’s head.

“Hey, buddy”

  
“Oh my god, the poor thing.” Jessica said softly. “You have to…” Mike turned teary eyes to her. He looked desperate, “Mike, it must be in so much pain.”

  
“I know – I know, but I can’t do it, okay?” He got closer to the deer and, almost resting his forehead on its neck, said “I’m so sorry, buddy. I promise it’ll be over soon.”

  
  


The deer closed its eyes, as if Mike’s voice had actually calmed it down. Then the body of the deer stiffened and was quickly pulled away.

The animal let out such a noise horrifying that Mike took Jessica’s hand and ran almost instinctively.”

  
  


“What the hell was that?!” Jessica screamed mid-panting.

  
“Just run! Run!”

“There’s a bridge! Over here, Mike!” Mike jumped over and followed Jess through the woods.

  
“It’s a bear!” Mike told her. “It’s the only thing around here strong enough to pull a deer like that!”

  
“I didn’t actually think we would be chased by a bear! Run!”

  
“Stay on the path. We’re almost there!”

  
  
Jessica opened a closed gate without missing a beat.

There it was. Their holy grail.

In front of them was the _fucking_ cabin.

“Finally!” Mike said, relieved. As they ran to the cabin, Jessica tripped.

Mike ran over to help her up.

“Come on, we did it! We are here!”

Mike pulled out the key and opened the door, locking it behind them.

“God, that was close!” Jessica said, falling to the ground and hugging her legs.

  
“Nah, we had it under control. Whole time.”

  
“Bull. Shit.”

  
“Babe, we were amazing out there! We were unstoppable.” He said, trying to slow down his beating heart. “We outran a bear!”

  
“I feel like I just ran a marathon.” Jessica complained.

  
“I think we kind of did.”

There was a tense moment of silence. Both of them were too caught up in their thoughts. 

“What if the bear tries to barge in?” Jessica asked. 

  
“It won’t.” He reassured her. “Bears don’t know how to open cabin doors.”

  
“I’ve seen them open car doors.”

  
“What? Where?”

  
“On the internet.”

  
“Really?” She nodded. “Well, _this_ bear will probably get distracted chasing a deer or something, okay? I promise you that no bear or anything else is going to open that cabin door.”

  
“I hope you’re right.” She tried to flick on the light switch, but nothing happened. “Why am I surprised?” She pointed an accusatory finger at Mike, “This is not the cozy chalet I was promised, Mike.”

  
“Yeah, Josh made it sound so much better than it actually is…” He hugged Jessica from behind, “Lucky for us, we don’t need much to heat things up.”

  
“Michael, I _am_ a lady.”

  
“And I’m a man.” Mike answered with the cockiest grin he could muster. “I see this as an absolute win, honestly.”

  
“And…” Jessica continued, ignoring him. “I would like to cuddle up with my man by a nice, cozy fire bathed in atmospheric mood lighting.”

  
“Oh, _right_ ,” Mike said jokingly. “We can’t forget the mood lightning.”

Jess sat down in the old, dusty couch. She hadn’t expected anything owned by the Washingtons to look like… well, like _that_ , but she was going to make the best of it.  
  


She was going to take a cute selfie with Mike and maybe send a quick text to Josh to tell him they had finally reached the cabin.

“Oh shit! Fuck! Mike!”

  
“What’s wrong?”

  
“I think I lost it.”

  
“What?”

  
“I mean, I must’ve dropped it, right?”

  
“Jess, sweetheart, slow down. What did you lose?”

  
“My phone, Sherlock!”

  
“Oh, _crap_.”

  
“My parents are going to kill me.”

  
“Can’t you get a new one?”

  
“Not after getting my fourth one this year.”

  
“Okay... Well, I’ll help you look for it –”

  
“Wait! I don’t think we should go out there right now with the bear.” Jess hurriedly said. “Or _whatever_ that was.”

  
“Yeah, you’re right.” Mike sighed, “I’ll look for some matches.”

“Right.”

He walked around the cabin and turned on an electric lantern.

He found an old, Native American book. But, when he was going to look inside the book, a small box of matches next to it got his attention.

“Lookie-lookie, who’s gonna fire up some nookie!” He celebrated.  
  


“Good God, you’ve been dying to use that line since we got here, haven’t you?”  
  


“What can I say? I’m a man of simple pleasures.” Mike walked around some more. Next to a window, he found a rifle. “Woah! Looks like we weren’t the only ones to meet the friendly neighborhood terror bears.”

  
“That does not make me feel any better.”

  
“No, but it sure is a beautiful rifle.”

  
“Mike, _I’m_ your girlfriend. And _I’m_ freezing.” Mike looked at her with an honest-to-God lost expression. “ _Fire_?”

  
“Oh, right. In a moment.”

Mike put some wood in the fireplace and lit it with a match.

  
“Man one, fire zero.”

  
Jess clapped, delighted. “Very nice! Bravo.”

Mike sat next to Jess, hugged her close and rested his head on her shoulder. It was crazy cold down there – colder than inside the big ass lodge – so he was more than okay with taking a moment to cuddle by the fire.

“This is really nice.” Jessica whispered.

  
“What do you mean?”

  
“Well, I thought you were one way…” She spoke slowly, trying to find the way to tell him exactly how she felt. “Like a ladies’ man. Which was fine, honestly. But you’re kind of another way, and that’s a nice surprise.” She stopped. “Does that make sense?”

  
“Jess, I really like you. Whoever you think I am, well, I’m glad you are happy with it. With _me_.”

  
  


Mike kissed her, savoring the moment, but she pulled away shortly after.

  
  


“The shutters.”

  
“What about them?”

  
“Umm, close them please?”

  
“Jess, there’s no one out there.”

  
“I feel like someone’s watching us. I really don’t like it.”

  
“Okay. Shutters it is.” He closed the shutters. “Better?”

“Yeah. Ugh, I’m sorry, I think I’m a little freaked out.”

  
“After the bear attack? Don’t worry, love.”

  
“No, it’s not just that.”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
“Look, I act all super confident and like a total sexy babe, but underneath I’m kind of insecure.” Jessica hugged her legs. The fire casted shadows on her face, making her look older and, at the same time, much younger. _It was weirdly beautiful_ , Mike thought.

  
“Jess, you’ve got nothing to be insecure about.”

  
“Oh, you have no idea –”

  
“I sure I do.” Mike interrupted her. Jessica was so… so herself, and she was amazing. Mike wanted her to see that. “You’re just like me and everyone else. We are all insecure, but you know how to handle yourself. You might call it a front, but I think it’s as real as the rest of you.”

  
“Oh, Mike…” Jessica was short for words.

  
“ _And_ that’s super fucking hot.” Mike said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

  
“Really?”

  
“Hell yeah it is.” Mike said and took her hand. “Come here.”

  
“God, I’m glad you know how to handle me.” She kissed Mike’s neck tenderly.

  
A crashing noise was heard. Mike and Jessica jumped – frightened – and looked at the direction of the sound. 

“Holy…” Mike blurted out.

  
“Mike, what was that!?” 

  
“I know as much as you, sweetheart.”

  
“Okay, well, go find out!” She screamed, looking nervously at the rifle. “ _Please!_ ”

  
  


Mike stood up, swallowed thickly and walked to the source of the sound slowly, cautiously.

  
He was readying himself to fight the so-called bear or any other wild animal. What else could it be if not an animal?

However, what he found was not an animal, but Jessica’s phone on the ground, playing a song.

“It’s… your phone.” He announced. Mike bent over and picked up the phone, unlocked it and turned off the music.

  
There were some scratches on its surface he was sure hadn’t been there before.

“What? How is that possible?” Jessica walked towards him. “A bear couldn’t care less about returning my phone. It wouldn’t even know what’s a phone!”

  
“I don’t know. It just came through the window…” Mike was trying to understand what was happening. He felt as lost as he had been when Emily broke up with him.

Yeah, despite what their friends believed, Em was the one who called their relationship off.

That had been a surprise, and he had felt sad, pissed and lost.

This wasn’t quite like that, but was close enough.

“Oh for fuck’s sake –” Jessica groaned.

  
“What?”

  
“Those assholes probably followed us out here to mess with us!” She stormed off out the front door, angrier than Mike had ever seen her. “Hey, pricks! Yeah, the lot of you! We know you’re out there! You want to ruin our fun that bad?! Well, you can’t! Because Michael and I are going to _fuck_! That’s right! And it’s going to be hot! So joke’s on you!”

Jessica walked inside and slammed the door. A loud noise – that sounded strangely like an anguished laugh or a scream – quickly followed.

“Oh, give me a break!” Jessica let out angrily, stomping her foot angrily. Something suddenly broke the front door’s window and grabbed Jessica. As she screamed, she was forcefully pulled out the window.

“Jessica!” Mike cried out. _What was happening there?_

* * *

“Do you really think the _twins_ were communicating with us?” Chris asked. Technically, the twins hadn’t been communicating, only Beth. But he didn't think making that distinction was important. 

  
“I don't know.” Ashley admitted gloomily and then added, “I don't know if I wish they were or I wish they weren't.”

  
  


Chris and Ash walked down the stairs. Chris was a few steps behind, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

“How was Josh? He looked really freaked out at the seance.”

  
“He was.” Chris said. “He is ridiculously strong, but this may have been too much. Even for him.”

  
“Maybe we shouldn't have mentioned his sisters.”

  
“I mean, it's why we came back here.”

  
“Yeah but, not to like, have a _seance_.” She chuckled without real humor. “Maybe we went too far.”

  
“Agh! I thought nothing was going to happen and that a little spooky time would cheer him up!” Chris lamented. It was frustrating; after a year of not hearing from Josh, he now felt like he had reached a dead end. “I just wish I could more for him.”

  
“Chris, you already do plenty.”

  
“But not enough.”

  
  


They walked past a bookshelf, and a couple of books flew out, almost hitting them.

“Jesus! Look out!” Chris pushed Ashley out of the way. Ashley ducked, scared.

  
“Ah! Holy crap.”

  
“Are you okay?”

  
“Yeah. Thanks for that.” She turned and stopped, her jaw almost hitting the floor. “Look –”

  
“What?”

  
“There was something behind the books. What is that?”

  
“Is it a button?”

  
“Why would there be a button?”

  
“That's a good question.” Chris moved closer to the bookshelf. “And the only answer that occurs to me is that this is Mr. Washington’s lodge after all.”

  
“I guess you’re right.” She conceded. “Should we push it?”

  
“That's what buttons are for, I guess.”

She pushed the button and the walls opened.

“Woah! How could I not know about this?”

  
“Are we in a movie right now?” Ashley blurted out. “This seems unreal!”

  
“If we are, I hope it's one with a happy ending and not a ‘the Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ type of movie.”

  
“So… should we take a look?”

  
“After you.” Chris joked. There was no way he would let Ashley go in first – not after everything that had happened that night – but he _deeply_ enjoyed teasing her.

  
“What?” She paled. “No, you go first.”

  
“ _Gee_ , thanks.” He said, but his voice was warmer than usual.

  
  


Chris walked inside and found a photo of the twins. He turned it around and almost dropped the photo. He could not believe his eyes; there was actual proof in the library.

“Holy cow…”

  
“What? What did you find?”

He wanted to be protective and keep Ashley in the dark – _he really, really did_ – but blissful ignorance would not do them any good. Especially if there really was someone after the Washingtons.

“Ash, I don't want to freak you out, but look at this.” She leaned in to look at the photo.

  
“Chris, is this a real threat!?”

  
“I –” He trembled a little. “I think this might be what the spirit board wanted us to find.”

  
“Do you think someone was actually after Hannah and Beth?”

  
“That would be really messed up.” He said and then realization hit him like a bucket of cold water. “Someone might _still_ be after Josh. We need to find him right now.”

  
  


They headed out of the room hurriedly. Chris spoke up again.

“So, um, I've been thinking about something I saw earlier with Sam…”

  
“What?”

  
“There was this wanted poster, you know?” He began explaining, “And Sammy really thought there was someone following her around.”

  
“So you're saying that there's some criminal up on the mountain with us?”

  
“I don’t know. But Josh did give me a spare key to unlock the station. He said they wanted to keep _people_ out.”

  
“What do you mean?”

  
“He said it like... like it was a necessary precaution.” He tried to connect the dots, “And then we found that crazy psycho letter!”

  
“Chris, if this is your way of making me feel better, you're fired.”

  
“Well, no. I wouldn’t say I was trying to make you feel better. Just… keep your eyes peeled. If you see something, say something.”

  
The door near them banged, and they heard Josh scream.

“You heard that?” Chris asked, momentarily paralyzed. He was afraid of what that sound could mean. 

  
“That was Josh –!”

So Josh did scream. It had actually happened.

They needed to act fast. “It came from the kitchen!”

  
Ashley ran ahead and opened the door. “Josh!?”

  
“Josh! We're coming! Hold on!” He called from behind.

  
Suddenly, Ashley was pulled inside and the door closed, separating them. He could hear Ashley's screams and grunts.

“Ashley?! Ash! What's going on?”

Total radio silence. 

“Ashley! Are you okay?”

  
He was desperate. First Josh and now Ashley…

  
“I'm gonna – Ugh!” He forced the door open and fell to the ground. In front of him was Ashley, lying on the ground. “Ash?” He called.

A masked man punched Chris in the face, knocking him out. Then he dragged Ashley's unconscious body away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading ♥


	8. Seven Hours Until Dawn - Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I see. You have chosen to save Ashley.” 
> 
> Chris turned to the place where the mysterious voice was coming from, “No. It has to be a mistake! That's not what I chose!” Then, he faced his friend. “Josh, I am so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!”

“Jessica!” Was that really a bear? What was happening? Mike shook his head, trying – failing – to muster up some courage. Without losing any more time, he took the rifle and chased after Jess. Whatever had taken Jessica must have run ridiculously fast for it was nowhere to be seen. But a trail was left behind in the snow.

He ran, following the trail, and jumped his way across a river. There was no time to lose.

Mike eventually reached a ledge and used the rifle to scope out Jess. He found her frantically crawling away. Then, the unknown but-surely-not-a-bear attacker took her ankle and pulled Jessica away.

  
“Fuck!” Mike blurted, looking for a way down. “Stop!”

“Argh! No! Help! Michael!” He could hear Jessica’s distressed calls, “Michael, help!”

_Fuck it_ , he thought and jumped down the cliff.

“Holy cow!” He screamed as he gained speed. Mike saw a branch, but he couldn’t grab it on time and fell to the ground, landing hard. “ _Oof._ ”

He took a deep breath. Nothing felt broken, so Mike counted himself lucky. He stood up slowly, grabbed the gun and continued running. “Just keep going...” He said, pumping himself up. Mike ducked under a log and ran even faster than before.

Eventually, Mike reached an old, decrepit building. He could hear Jessica from there, so he knew she was close – but never in his life had he heard something as terrifying or nerve-racking as her screams in that moment. His blood froze and he got goosebumps.

  
“Oh God, Michael! Please!” Hearing that was enough to bring him back to reality. He ran down the stairs to the mine, taking two steps at a time. Jessica was still screaming.

  
“Jess, I’m coming!” He shouted, but was almost certain she couldn’t hear him. “I’m almost there, babe!”

Mike approached what must’ve been an elevator a long, long time ago.

  
He had done it. In front of him was Jessica’s body. She was still breathing – slowly, sure, but her chest was moving. He let out a breath and reached for Jessica. 

“Mike…” Jessica said faintly, a small smile forming on her lips. However, before he could do anything, a loud noise was heard and the elevator suddenly fell, dragging her body down. 

  
“Jessica!” The scream ripped out of him. Was she – Was she dead? His eyes shone with tears. “Fuck! I’m so done with this _fucking_ place!”

Mike saw someone move from the corner of his eye: Jessica’s attacker! Had to be.

He shot in the direction of the _bastard_ , but failed. Anger and sadness were clouding his thoughts, and his hands were shaking.

He ran upstairs in search of Jessica's attacker.

Mike jumped, grabbed a protruding metal bit with his hand and climbed, going up the right side of a wall. He felt unstoppable. Despite all those years in the football team, he had never been faster or more agile than in that moment.

He jumped onto a ledge leading into a tunnel. Far ahead, a man was walking down the tunnel.

Mike pointed his rifle, ready to shoot, but stopped. _God_ , what was he doing? Was he really going to kill _someone_?

Yes, he had killed Jessica.

It was only fair.

Mike was not a killer, but he was angry and sad and scared.

He shot… and nothing happened.

“Goddamnit! Jammed up piece of shit!” Mike threw the gun away. The stranger jumped down a hole past a closing gate.

Mike followed him running. His muscles were burning and he was out of breath, but he didn’t slow down. The memory of Jessica on that elevator was enough to keep him going.

Mike slid past the gate before it fully closed. He found a lantern on the rock path and lit it, thankful for the extra illumination.

He made it outside the mines, but a terrible blizzard was raging. In the distance, Mike could make out a building. The same man he had been chasing was walking up to it.

“Jesus! The fuck is that place?”

* * *

Everything hurt and his head was killing him.

  
Chris opened his eyes slowly to find himself alone in the Washington’s kitchen. How long had he been lying there?

“Ugh.” Chris grabbed the flashlight he had been carrying and stood up. The room spun for a few seconds, making him nauseous. God, the masked man had hit him _hard_.

Memories came rushing back, and he almost chocked. “Oh no, Ashley!?” There in front of him was Ashley's coin purse. “Not good. Not good at all...”

He had to find Ashley. Who knew what the masked man would do to her? But a blizzard was raging outside, and going out mid-storm hadn’t worked out well for the twins…

Well, he didn’t have an option, really.

Chris opened a door and found big bloodstains on the wall. “Shit! I’m going to puke.” The blood look ridiculously red, fresh. He might be able to catch up to the masked man after all.

He exited the lodge and called out, “Ashley! Anyone out there? Ashley!”

The road quickly branched into two. Chris went left and a _freaking_ zombie popped out of nowhere.

  
“Cheese whiz!” He cursed and adopted a defensive posture. Though, to be honest, looked more like a Naruto stance. “What in the hell?” He examined the zombie, but it was a mere puppet on a stick. “Who would do this?”

He wisely decided that the left path was the wrong one, and turned around. In the fork, he went right.

Chris entered an old, scary shed. So the right path wasn't better.

He had never seen that shed before, despite all the time he spent there with the Washingtons. And, even though he wanted to find Ashley as soon as possible, he wished she wasn’t in there. The shed was creepy-looking – it kind of reminded him of his first time playing Amnesia. Yeah, not the place he wanted his friend to be.

In that moment, he heard Ashley's crying.

  
“Ashley!” He called.

  
“Chris?”

  
“Ash, I'm here!”

  
“Please, Chris, help us.” She cried louder. “He – He tied us up... Josh is unconscious, and I can't move! You – You have to get us out of here before he comes back!”

  
“I'm coming, Ash, I’m coming. Keep talking to me!” He pleaded, desperate. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  
“I'm really scared, Chris.”

Chris walked inside the next room, and a light turned on, revealing Ashley and Josh tied up in chains on a wall.

“What the hell!?” Chris shouted. It had to be a freaking nightmare. No way was that actually happening. He hurried to the door and tried to yank it open, but it was locked. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“Chris! Hurry!” Ashley begged, fear coating her voice.

“Hello, Christopher,” an ominous voice said, “and thank you all for joining us.”

“Ash, wake up Josh!” He instructed the red-haired, still trying to force the door open.

  
“Josh? Josh, wake up!” By some miracle, that worked.

  
“Huh?” Josh tried to move his hands. “What is this? Chris, what’s happening!?”

“Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test.” The mysterious voice continued despite the teenagers’ screams.

“What the hell is going on, Ash?” Josh asked.

  
“I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!”

“For this experiment, we'll need the cooperation of our two test subjects: Joshua Washington and Ashley Brown.”

“Holy shit” and “Oh my god” Josh and Ashley blurted at the same time, respectively.

“But we're going to need one more, brave participant to help decide which subject will live, and which will die.”

“Oh no! Chris, get us out of here!”

  
“No! You can't do this! Let us down from here, you maniac!” Josh desperately tried to free his hands. Ashley whimpered beside him.

“Please, everyone calm down. There’s no need for this ruckus.” The voice said. “It's all very simple. Christopher, there is a lever placed directly in front of you. All you have to do is choose who you will save.”

“This can't be happening! This isn't right!” Chris said, standing as far from the lever as possible. “There’s no freaking way!”

  
“Chris! You can't let me die!” Ashley screamed.

  
“Dude, let's think about this for a minute!” Josh said, pleaded.

“Just – Just give me a second...” Chris told them. Or maybe he was telling the voice. He was nauseous, and everything was spinning around him. He could almost hear an imaginary clock ticking. “I can't think straight. Shit.”

Chris didn’t want to choose. How could he possibly choose between his best friend and his crush?

But what would happen if he didn’t make the choice? Would the maniac kill both of his friends? He didn’t want to risk it.

He didn’t think he could take it.

“This is insane.” Ashley interrupted his thoughts. “This is nuts. Chris, tell me this isn't happening!”

  
“I don't know what to do.” Chris said desperately. 

  
“Bro, we've been through so much… I don't wanna go out like this.” Josh sounded defeated, as if he knew what Chris was going to choose. _Who_ he was going to choose. 

But how could he know? Not even Chris knew.

  
“Chris, please! I am scared! Don't let them kill me!”

Chris hated himself in that moment because, if he stopped to think about it, the decision wasn’t _that_ difficult.

It was painful and he was going to hate himself after moving the lever, but he knew who he wanted to save. It was just a gruesome decision that made Chris want to lay down and cry. 

“Cochise,” Josh spoke up again, “I know I haven’t been a great friend lately. I have been distant and kind of messed up. But I'm getting better, man. I swear!”

Chris closed his eyes and wrapped his hand around the lever. “God, Ash, I'm sorry.” He mumbled regretfully and turned the lever to Ashley, but the tracks turned to Josh.

The saw started moving towards him.

“I see. You have chosen to save Ashley,” The voice said.

“What the _fuck_ , Chris!?” Josh shouted.

Chris turned to the place where the mysterious voice was coming from, “No. It has to be a mistake! That's not what I chose!” Then, he faced his friend. “Josh, I am _so_ sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!”

  
“I thought we were friends, man!” Josh was crying. Chris could hear the tears in his voice. “We were supposed to be _best friends_! Why would you do this!?”

  
“I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Josh!” Chris was crying, too. “This is madness, please stop!”

Ashley closed her eyes, her whole body was trembling. Josh screamed as the saw neared him and started to cut him open.

“Stop it! You can't do this! Please! Stop!” Chris hit the window, trying to break it, but the window glass was thick and did not budge. “Josh, I'm so sorry!” He let out quietly.

Josh’s screams stopped as the lower part of his body fell to the ground. “God, no. Ash, don't look. Don’t look!”

  
“What happened, Chris?” She asked with her eyes closed. “Please, tell me he's okay.”

Chris looked at his friend, and his whole world fell apart. The nausea clawed at his throat. He tried to force down the bile, but it was too late. His stomach contracted violently, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

He sunk to his knees, breathing hard and fast. His face was white and sweaty.

Far away, as in a dream, Chris heard the door to the room unlock. He stood up in shaky legs, cleaned his mouth with his sleeve and ran inside the other room.

“No! Don’t touch me!” Ashley said, kicking with force. Her eyes were still tightly closed.

  
“Ash, it’s me! Don’t kick, stop. I'm letting you down.” He untied her hands. “Don’t open your eyes until we get out of here.”

However, Ashley peeked and saw Josh's upper body. “Holy fucking shit, Chris!” Chris hurriedly covered her eyes and escorted her out of the shed.

“No! Josh!” She tried to break free, but Chris held her more tightly.

  
“Shhh.” He said, sounding terribly broken and lost, so she immediately obliged. “We need to go, okay?”

Outside of the shed, Chris leaned his back against a tree. He closed his eyes, and Ashley silently held his hand. He cried, but Ashley could not. She was still in shock.

On the road ahead, Ashley saw Matt and Emily walking back to the lodge. “Matt! Em!” she called out, and they ran to them.

“Blood!” Was the first thing Emily said when they were close enough. “Whose blood is that, Ash?”

  
“Are you okay, Chris?” Matt asked. “What happened?”

  
“J–Josh...”

  
“Josh what, dude?”

  
“He’s dead.” Ashely finished for Chris. 

  
“Wait, what?”

  
“Right in front of us.” She said by way of explanation.

  
“What are you talking about?” Emily chimed in. “You’re not making any sense.”

  
“There's a maniac, Em.”

  
“Maniac?” Emily repeated skeptically. “I don't understand what happened–”

  
“There's a maniac! And he was – there was a saw, and it was either him or Ash. I didn't know what to do!” Chris exploded. “The saw – it cut right through him. Spilling out fucking everywhere!”

  
“What!?”

  
“He killed him! I – I killed him!” Chris was crying so much his glasses were foggy.

  
“Whoa, Chris,” Matt tried to hold him. “It wasn’t your –”

  
“But it was my fault, Matt! I killed him, and now he’s –” Chris blurted. In one swift motion, Emily slapped him hard. “What the _hell_ , Emily!?”

  
“Hold yourself together, Chris!” She said. “If what you say is true, there’s a maniac on the loose. We need to keep our shit together and we _really_ need to go get some help.”

  
“Yeah, we're going to figure this out, man.” Matt told him. Matt, always the sensitive but rational one, tried to hide his feelings under a blank expression. “I know it sucks and it hurts, but don’t go all crazy on us. Not yet.”

  
“Not until we’re all safe.” Emily said and then prompted, “Let’s go.”

  
Matt turned to his girlfriend. “Em, we should look for the others.”

  
“Mike and Jess are off 69'ing each other, and who knows where Sam is –”

  
“I think she's in the lodge.” Chris interrupted, trying to clear out his head and think. “She said something about taking a bath…”

  
“Then you go find Sam.” Emily instructed Chris and Ashley. “And I'll go get help with Matt, okay?”

  
“Umm, okay.” Ashley said and nodded.

  
Chris took a deep breath and stood up straight. “Be careful, guys,” He added as an afterthought.  
  


“Aren’t we always?” Em jokingly said. Chris tried to smile and then followed Ashley back to the lodge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading ♥


End file.
